RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION 

and  the 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

An     American    Problem 


BY  GEORGE  U.  WENNER 
ii 

NEW  YORK 


BONNELL,  SILVER  AND  CO. 

48  West  Twenty-second  Street 
NEW  YORK  ....    MCMVII 


LC 


Copyright,  1907 
By  GEORGE  U.  WENNER 


To 

MY  FIRST  TEACHER  IN  RELIGION 
MY  REVERED  MOTHER 


248518 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 
FOREWORD vii 

I.  THE  PROBLEM 1 

II.  HISTORICAL  REVIEW       ....  4 

III.  IN  OTHER  LANDS  .......  22 

VI.  THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY     .  26 

V.  "A    WEEK-DAY    SUNDAY-SCHOOL"  39 

VI.  "  LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"         ...  46 

VII.  THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE  .      .  56 

VIII.  A  COURSE  OF  STUDY      ....  79 

IX.  THE  BIBLE  STORY 82 

X.  THE  CATECHISM 95 

XL  THE  GOAL 106 

XII.  A  SOLUTION Ill 

VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS  ...  119 


FOREWORD 

AT  the  meeting  of  the  Inter-Church 
-**  Conference  in  Carnegie  Hall,  New 
York,  in  November,  1905,  at  which 
twenty-nine  Protestant  Churches  of  Amer- 
ica were  represented,  one  of  the  papers 
treated  the  question  of  Week-day  Re- 
ligious Instruction.  Its  main  proposi- 
tion was  favorably  received,  and  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  adopted  by  the 
Conference : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  need  of  more  systematic  education 
in  religion,  we  recommend  for  the  favorable  consider- 
ation of  the  Public  School  authorities  of  the  country  the  pro- 
posal to  allow  the  children  to  absent  themselves  without 
detriment  from  the  public  schools  on  Wednesday  or  on  some 
other  afternoon  of  the  school  week  for  the  purpose  of  attend- 
ing religious  instruction  in  their  own  churches;  and  we  urge 
upon  the  churches  the  advisability  of  availing  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  so  granted  to  give  such  instruction  in  addi- 
tion to  that  given  on  Sunday. 

The  further  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject was  referred  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  a  report  may  be  expected  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Federal  Council  of 


viii        RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  in 
December,  1908. 

This  action  of  the  Conference  placed 
the  question  on  the  docket,  as  it  were,  for 
the  consideration  of  the  churches. 

On  the  30th  of  January,  1906,  in  con- 
nection with  the  10th  Annual  Meeting  of 
the  Federation  of  Churches  of  New  York, 
the  subject  was  debated,  and  after  an 
animated  discussion^  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  make  arrangements  for 
further  consideration  of  the  question  at  a 
subsequent  meeting.  At  this  second 
meeting,  held  on  the  30th  of  April,  ad- 
dresses in  favor  of  the  movement  were 
delivered  by  Rabbi  Mendes,  Father  Mc- 
Millan, Bishop  Greer,  Dr.  Henry  M. 
Sanders,  Dr.  Frank  Mason  North  and 
Dr.  Henry  A.  Stimson,  representing  re- 
spectively the  Jewish,  Roman  Catholic, 
Protestant  Episcopal,  Baptist,  Methodist 
Episcopal  and  Congregational  commu- 
nions. A  letter  from  the  Hon.  Charles  A. 
Schieren,  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  also 
endorsed  the  proposed  plan. 

To  meet  objections,  and  remove  mis- 


FOREWORD  ix 

apprehensions,  the  substance  of  the  paper 
read  before  the  Inter-Church  Conference, 
is  presented  in  the  following  pages, 
together  with  such  additions  as  may  help 
to  illustrate  its  purpose.  Its  chief  object 
is  to  contribute  material  toward  further 
discussion  of  the  question. 

The  attention  which  the  question  of 
Religious  Education  is  receiving  in  Eng- 
land will  serve  to  facilitate  its  discussion 
in  America.  Conditions  are  different, 
but  the  same  principles  are  involved. 

If  the  plan  proposed  in  these  pages  is 
not  acceptable,  it  is  hoped  that  some  other 
solution  may  be  found  for  one  of  the  most 
serious  problems  of  our  American  life. 

G   U.  W. 


THE    PROBLEM 


questions  are  settled  in  the  minds 
of  American  Christians.  One  is  that 
there  can  be  no  true  edu- 
cation  without  religion.     %£$£? 
The  other  is  that  we  must 
have  a  public  school,  open  to  all  children 
without  regard  to  creed.  These  two  propo- 
sitions appear  to  contradict  one  another. 
The  problem  is  how  to  reconcile  them. 

When  our  country  was  young,  and 
Protestantism  was  the  prevailing  type  of 
religion,  these  two  ideas  dwelt  peaceably 
together.  The  founders  of  the  Republic 
had  no  theory  of  education  from  which 
religion  was  divorced.  But  the  in- 
flux of  millions  of  people  of  other  faiths 
compels  us  to  revise  our  methods  and  to 
test  them  by  our  principles,  the  principles 
of  a  free  Church  within  a  free  State. 
Roman  Catholics  and  Jews  object  to 


^1^  T^ 

2  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

our  traditions  and  charge  us  with  incon- 
sistency. If  temporarily  we  are  able  to 
withstand  their  objections,  we  feel  that  a 
great  victory  has  been  won  for  religion 
when  a  psalm  is  read  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer  said  at  the  opening  of  the  daily 
session  of  school.  We  still  have  "re- 
ligion" in  the  public  school. 

But  the  problem  remains.  On  the  one 
hand,  those  who  doubt  the  propriety  of 
introducing  any  religious  instruction,  how- 
ever attenuated,  into  the  public  school, 
are  not  satisfied  with  the  compromise. 
There  are  judicial  decisions  which  place 
even  the  reading  of  the  Bible  under  the 
head  of  sectarian  instruction. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  believe 
that  religion  has  a  supreme  place  in  the 
education  of  a  child,  and  that  provision 
should  therefore  be  made  for  it  in  its 
school  life,  realize  the  inadequacy  of  the 
present  methods. 

As  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "To  prepare 
Aim  of  us  for  complete  living  is  the 

Education  function  which  education  has 
to  discharge."  Character  rather  than 


THE  PROBLEM  3 

acquirement  is  the  chief  aim  of  education. 
Hence  we  cannot  ignore  the  place  of 
religion  in  education  without  doing  vio- 
lence to  the  ultimate  purpose  of  education. 

The  importance  of  the  question  is  ad- 
mitted on  all  sides.  But  it  remains  a 
complex  and  difficult  problem.  Thus 
far,  at  least,  with  all  our  talent  for  practical 
measures,  we  have  not  succeeded  in 
reaching  a  solution. 

The  question  of  religious  instruction, 
however,  is  by  no  means  new.  It  is  as 
old  as  Christianity.  It  may  therefore 
be  well  to  inquire  in  what  way  other  ages 
have  treated  it.  On  this  subject  each 
of  the  great  periods  of  Christian  history 
has  given  an  answer. 


II 

HISTORICAL  REVIEW 

TN   the    early    ages,    Christian  nurture 
was  a  family  duty.     In  his  letter  to 
Family  the    Ephesians,    Paul    urges 

Training  fathers  to  nurture  their  chil- 
dren "in  the  chastening  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord/'  In  his  letter  "unto  the 
elect  lady  and  her  children,"  John  ex- 
presses his  joy  at  finding  "certain  of  thy 
children  walking  in  truth."  When  Paul 
reminded  Timothy  of  the  "unfeigned 
faith  which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grandmother 
Lois  and  thy  mother  Eunice,"  we  are 
justified  in  inferring  a  Christian  training. 
Christ's  own  words,  (Mark  10),  not  only 
included  a  caution  to  the  disciples,  but 
were  a  direct  command  to  the  parents. 

The  obligation  of  Christian  nurture 
thus  imposed  by  Christ  and  His  Apostles 
was  gladly  accepted  by  the  members  of 
the  early  church,  especially  by  the  mothers. 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  5 

The  names  of  Emmelia  the  mother  of 
Basil,  Arethusa  the  mother  of  Chrysostom, 
and  Monica  the  mother  of  Augustine,  are 
eminent  in  the  history  of  Christian  family 
nurture. 

In  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  we  have 
occasional  glimpses  of  the  character  and 
effect  of  this  family  training.*  Polycarp 
writes:  "Teach  your  women  to  bring  up 
the  children  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord." 
Hermas  is  blamed  because  he  had  not 
rightly  instructed  his  children.  The  mar- 
tyrs Paeon  and  Euelpistus  were  brought 
before  a  heathen  judge,  Rusticus,  who 
asked  them  from  whom  they  had  learned 
Christianity.  They  replied,  "From  the 
women  have  we  received  this  beautiful 
doctrine."  Origen  was  instructed  in  the 
Scriptures  from  childhood  by  his  father 
Leonidas.  Every  day  he  had  to  learn 
certain  doctrines  and  a  Bible  story. 
Tertullian  speaks  of  the  children  of 
Christians  as  holy  not  only  by  the  priv- 
ilege of  birth  but  also  by  the  discipline  of 
their  training.  Clement  of  Alexandria 

*  See  Sachsse,  Lehre  von  der  Kirchlichen  Erziehung,  p.  100. 


6  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

demands  that  children  should  be  trained 
by  means  of  Bible  examples  and  by  fear. 
The  Apostolical  Constitutions  prescribe 
to  parents  the  duty  of  instructing  their 
children  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
and  of  bringing  them  up  in  the  fear  of 
God .  Chrysostom  frequently  admonishes 
his  hearers  to  tell  the  Bible  stories  to 
their  children.  Basil  the  Great  was  in- 
structed from  childhood  in  the  Christian 
faith  by  his  father,  his  mother  and  his 
grandmother  Macrina. 

From  these  illustrations  it  seems  clear 
that  family  training  was  the  signature  of 
the  religious  education  of  the  early  church. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Christian 
school  took  the  place  of  family  training. 
The  Christian  The  migrations  of  the  nations 
disorganized  social  and  family 
life,  and  made  it  necessary  to  find 
other  means  of  reaching  the  children. 
The  earliest  schools  were  in  connection 
with  the  monasteries.  In  813  Charle- 
magne procured  the  passage  of  a  resolu- 
tion by  the  Council  of  Mainz  that  parents 
should  be  admonished  to  send  their 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  7 

children  to  school,  either  to  the  monastery 
or  to  their  own  pastors.  Other  synods 
followed  in  these  recommendations  and 
enlarged  the  scope  of  the  training.  But 
the  indolence  and  the  ignorance  of  the  min- 
isters were  the  chief  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  realizing  the  ideals  of  that  enlightened 
and  truly  great  emperor,  Charlemagne. 
He  was  great  as  a  military  conqueror, 
but  he  was  still  greater  as  a  Christian 
educator. 

Four  centuries  later  another  step  was 
taken,  when  the  Synod  of  Besier,  in  1246, 
established  a  sort  of  Sunday-school,  by 
ordering  that  all  children  seven  years  old 
and  upward,  should  be  brought  to  church 
by  their  parents  to  be  instructed  in  the 
Christian  faith.  Incidentally  the  parents 
were  also  reached  by  this  method. 

Twenty-four  years  later  Bishop  Engel- 
bert  of  Koln  published  the  scheme  of  a 
well-organized  school  in  his  "Rules  for 
Sextons  and  Schoolmasters."  Instruc- 
tion was  to  be  given  for  five  hours  daily, 
principally  in  religion  and  morals,  but  also 
in  all  kinds  of  worldly  subjects. 


8  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

A  century  later  John  Gerson  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  instruction 
of  children  in  religion.  He  was  born 
in  1363,  was  brought  up  by  pious  parents, 
and  received  his  education  in  Paris.  He 
was  not  only  a  very  learned  man,  but  also 
a  man  of  courage,  contending  bravely 
against  existing  evils  in  the  church.  He 
was  the  Spener  of  his  day,  not  only  in  his 
zeal  for  practical  Christianity,  but  also 
in  his  methods.  His  chief  delight  was  to 
teach  the  children.  His  tract,"On  Bring- 
ing the  Little  Ones  to  Christ/'  has  helped 
to  perpetuate  his  memory.  In  his  old 
age  he  often  gathered  the  children  about 
him  in  the  monastery  of  Lyons,  and  when 
he  saw  his  end  approaching,  he  sent 
once  more  for  the  children  in  order  that 
he  might  pray  with  them.  He  died  on 
the  12th  of  July,  1429. 

The  larger  life  that  followed  the  Cru- 
sades led  to  the  establishment  of  Latin 
schools  in  the  cities  all  over  Europe. 
These  were  secular,  and  were  under  the 
control  of  the  city  authorities.  But  their 
existence,  together  with  the  general  en- 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  9 

largement  of  intellectual  life,  emphasized 
the  necessity  of  better  systems  of  religious 
instruction.  Numerous  efforts  were 
made  in  this  direction,  but  the  constant 
complaint  was  that  the  ministers  were 
too  indolent  and  were  unwilling  to  under- 
take the  work. 

The  invention  of  printing  popularized 
a  number  of  catechetical  treatises,  such 
as  "The  Road  to  Heaven," 

6  .  Catechisms 

Mirror  tor  Christians      and 

"Threefold  Cord,"  explanations  of 
the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the 
Ten  Commandments.  These  booklets 
produced  a  wide-spread  interest  in  the 
subject  during  the  period  immediately 
preceding  the  Reformation.  John  Fred- 
erick, subsequently  the  staunch  and 
pious  Elector  of  Saxony,  got  his  father's 
permission  to  attend  the  catechetical 
classes  in  Torgau  on  Sunday  afternoons 
in  1511,  and  Luther  taught  the  catechism 
in  public  before  he  ever  thought  of 
a  Reformation.  Matthesius  relates  that 
Luther  as  a  child  at  school  had  learned 
the  Commandments,  the  Creed  and  the 


10  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Lord's  Prayer,  as  well  as  grammar  and 
some  Christian  hymns. 

Sponsors  in  baptism  also  played  an 
important  part  in  the  work  of  Christian 
instruction.  The  office  was  not  nominal. 
It  had  its  distinct  duties,  and  where  its 
original  ideas  were  carried  out,  proved 
a  helpful  agency.  In  sporadic  cases 
family  training  was  restored  toward  the 
end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  especially  among 
the  Waldensians,  the  Wiclifites  and  the 
Hussites. 

The  Reformation  was  a  spiritual  rather 
than  an  intellectual  movement.  But  in 
order  to  a  right  faith,  it  was  necessary 
The  that  there  should  be  a  right 

Reformation  knowledge  of  God.  Hence 
religious  education  early  received  a  lead- 
ing place  in  the  program  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  Pre-Reformation  period  had 
indeed  recognized  the  importance  of  the 
subject.  Here  and  there  its  greatest 
teachers  had  emphasized  its  importance 
and  had  pointed  out  the  way.  There 
were  not  lacking  synodical  resolutions 
for  the  direction  of  the  churches.  But  the 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  11 

problem  was  not  solved  by  the  church 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  Reformers  early  devised  systematic 
methods  of  imparting  religious  instruc- 
tion to  the  young.  The  agents  for  this 
work  were  first,  the  pastors,  and  sec- 
ondly, the  schools. 

In  1527  Melanchthon  prescribed  for 
ministers  the  preaching  of  sermons  on  the 
Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Com- 
mandments. A  regular  portion  of  the 
catechism  was  to  be  explained  in  the 
form  of  a  sermon.  This  sermon  was 
delivered  sometimes  after  the  regular 
sermon,  sometimes  before.  In  the  course 
of  time,  Sunday  afternoon  was  set  apart 
for  the  sermon  on  the  catechism.  The 
usual  order  of  the  service  was:  Recitation, 
Questions  and  Explanations,  and  the 
Sermon.  To  a  certain  extent  the  house- 
hold-training of  the  early  church  was 
restored,  inasmuch  as  parents  were  ex- 
pected to  teach  their  children  the  text  of 
the  catechism.  But  the  work  of  ex- 
planation was  left  to  the  pastor. 

Very  soon  it  was  found  that  Sunday 


12  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

was  not  enough  for  this  work,  and  one 
or  more  week-days  were  set  apart  on 
Week-Day  which  religious  instruction 
ciawet  wag  j.Q  |3e  given  to  the  chil- 

dren. An  examination  was  held  four 
times  a  year. 

This  method  was  generally  adopted 
by  the  churches,  and  in  most  places  it 
was  in  full  operation  prior  to  1534. 
What  Charlemagne  had  longed  for  in 
the  ninth  century  was  carried  out  by 
Luther  seven  hundred  years  later. 

But  the  pastors  alone  were  not  equal 
to  the  work.  They  needed  help.  In  the 
cities  this  was  easily  secured  by  reorgan- 
izing the  existing  schools.  In  1520  Lu- 
ther demanded  that  the  chief  subject  in 
the  schools  should  be  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
In  1524  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  Councils 
of  all  the  German  cities  to  establish  and 
maintain  Christian  schools.  As  the 
princes  had  no  time  for  this  work — they 
had  to  go  sleigh-riding  and  attend  to  their 
sports — the  city  authorities  should  meet 
this  crying  need.  In  1530  he  made  an- 
other appeal,  this  time  to  the  parents. 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  13 

They  should  not  be  satisfied  with  having 
their  children  learn  arithmetic  and  read- 
ing, so  as  to  become  merchants  and  get 
rich.  If  that  was  the  way  it  was  going 
to  be  done  in  Germany,  he  would  feel 
sorry  that  he  was  born  a  German. 

Many  cities  responded  to  this  appeal 
and  established  schools  in  which  religion 
became  the  chief  subject  of  instruction. 
In  1528  Melanchthon  published  for  the 
use  of  these  schools  his  "Instructions 
for  Inspectors  and  Pastors."  These  in- 
structions were  revised  and  approved 
by  Bugenhagen  and  Luther. 

In  the  villages  the  task  was  more  dif- 
ficult. The  need  was  recognized,  but 
many  years  passed  before  the  plans  were 
effectively  carried  out.  In  the  country 
districts  around  Wittenberg,  it  was  pre- 
scribed as  early  as  1528  that  the  sexton  in 
every  village  should  be  required  to  give 
instruction  on  week-days  on  the  Com- 
mandments, the  Creed  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  also  in  the  singing  of  hymns. 

Parents  were  required  to  send  their 
children  to  this  instruction.  The  sexton 


14  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thus  came  into  prominence  as  the  pas- 
tor's assistant  in  the  villages.  In  1533 
all  Saxony  followed  the  example  of  Wit- 
tenberg, in  1535  Pomerania,  in  1543 
Brunswick,  in  1573  Brandenburg,  in  1559 
Wiirttemberg. 

This  was  the  rule  on  paper  at  least.  In 
point  of  fact,  prior  to  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  there  were  but  few  village  schools. 
After  the  war,  pious  princes  made  re- 
newed efforts  to  establish  them.  In  this 
they  were  supported  by  the  Pietistic 
movement.  But  it  was  reserved  for  a 
later  period  to  realize  the  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations of  the  Reformers. 

It  was  Francke's  genial  spirit  that  gave 
A  Bohemian  practical  direction  to  the  new 
Bi»hoP  ideag  of  the  Christian  school, 

and  his  name  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  history  of  modern  education. 
But  the  real  author  of  its  principles  was 
John  Amos  Comenius,  the  last  Bishop  of 
the  Bohemian  Brethren.  He  was  born 
in  1592  and  died  in  1670.  One  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  his  times,  he  excelled 
in  many  directions,  but  his  chief  claim  to 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  15 

enduring  fame  is  the  contribution  which 
he  made  to  the  science  of  teaching.  His 
views  on  education  had  been  committed 
to  paper  while  he  and  his  churches  were 
exiles.  They  were  called  forth  by  the 
desire  to  give  to  his  people,  in  the  training 
of  Christian  children,  something  that 
could  not  be  taken  away  when  they  should 
again  be  restored  to  their  homes.  That 
time  never  came.  For  decades  the  man- 
uscripts lay  unused  and  forgotten  in 
their  hiding  place,  and  their  author  died, 
having  apparently  planned  and  lived 
in  vain. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  after  his  death, 
the  seed  which  he  had  sown  began  to 
grow.  Francke,  Rousseau  and  Pesta- 
lozzi  in  all  probability  got  their  ideas 
from  Comenius,  and  what  had  seemed  a 
failure  became  the  permanent  possession 
of  the  modern  world. 

As  a  result  of  these  principles,  educa- 
tional methods  underwent  a  Revolution  in 
complete    revolution    in    the   Methods 
eighteenth   century.      This   first   became 
apparent   in   the   period   of   Illuminism, 


16  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

(Aufklaerung),  the  forerunner  of  Ration- 
alism. The  chief  exponent  was  Basedow, 
with  an  elementary  work  in  1770,  and 
four  volumes  in  1774.  Acting  upon  a 
suggestion  of  Rousseau,  he  laid  down  the 
principle  that  education  must  accord  with 
nature.  He  condemned  mechanical  mem- 
orization of  uncomprehended  sentences. 
Instruction  must  lead  to  the  knowledge  of 
things.  The  mind  must  be  strengthened 
by  observation  and  discrimination.  Mem- 
ory is  to  be  subordinated  to  the  under- 
standing. In  religion,  the  doctrines  com- 
mon to  all  nations  are  to  be  distinguished 
from  those  of  Revelation.  The  former 
are  to  be  taught  in  school,  the  latter  in 
church.  The  common  doctrines  of  relig- 
ion are  three:  1.  There  is  a  Providence. 
2.  There  is  a  future  life.  3.  This  future 
life  is  obtained  by  being  good  in  this  life. 
Hence  children  should  early  be  taught  to 
be  good. 

The  application  of  Basedow's  principles 
to  religious  instruction  was  made  by 
Salzmann  (1780).  Religion  is  a  state  of 
mind  which  appreciates  things  at  their 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  17 

real  worth.  It  must  not  be  based  on  the 
events  that  took  place  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago.  Teach  children  to  study  na- 
ture, and  then  they  will  appreciate  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible.  Tell  them  of 
God's  love  and  then  of  His  command- 
ments. Learning  texts  and  studying 
books  makes  them  hate  religion.  Tell 
them  stories  in  the  way  that  Jesus  did. 
Bible  stories  are  not  suitable  because  of 
their  orientalism.  Robinson  Crusoe  is 
better.  Connect  religious  sentiments  with 
his  adventures.  Finally,  lead  to  faith  in 
the  Divine  revelation  in  Christ,  not  by 
dogmatic  statements  but  by  telling  of  His 
life  and  works.  Faith  in  Christ  is  one 
thing,  acceptance  of  dogmatic  statements 
is  another  thing. 

These  methods  were  a  mixture  of 
truth  and  error.  On  the  one  hand, 
Christianity  is  not  an  unintelligible  eccle- 
siasticism.  The  reason  must  be  culti- 
vated. Christ  is  to  be  known  as  a  Person 
and  not  as  a  dogma.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  conception  of  Christianity  as  a  mere 
doctrine  was  incomplete. 


18  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

In  this  connection  mention  must  also 
be  made  of  Baron  von  Rochow,  who 
established  a  village  school  on  his  estates, 
in  which  the  merits  but  not  the  faults  of 
Illuminism  were  seen;  and  of  Pestalozzi, 
whose  practical  efforts  were  such  complete 
failures,  but  who  gave  seed-thoughts  that 
are  still  bringing  forth  fruit. 

The  changes  produced  by  the  combined 
influences  of  the  eighteenth  century  were 
very  great.  Thoro  training  was  re- 
quired of  teachers.  Normal  schools  were 
established.  Attendance  at  school,  form- 
erly optional,  became  obligatory.  Me- 
chanical memorization  was  condemned. 
School  used  to  be  a  purgatory  for  children, 
it  was  turned  into  a  paradise.  Above  all, 
there  was  a  definite  aim.  In  religion,  the 
aim  was  development  of  character.  In 
secular  training,  the  aim  was  to  fit  for 
the  practical  duties  of  life. 

The  year  1695  marks  a  new  step  in  the 

history  of  religious   education.     In  this 

Francke'.        yearAugust  Hermann 

Francke       established       his 

School  for  the  Poor  in  Glaucha.    To  this 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  19 

he  soon  added  a  Public  School,  a  Latin 
High  School  and  a  Normal  School  with  a 
postgraduate  annex.  For  these  schools 
and  for  his  Orphans'  House  he  required 
teachers.  He  trained  them  himself,  and 
within  three  years  he  had  fifty-six  teachers 
at  work  in  his  institutions. 

Francke  was  a  master  teacher.  His 
aim  was  the  development  of  character. 
Instruction  was  only  the  means  to  this 
end.  His  system  included  the  study  of 
nature,  and  provided  for  manual  training, 
for  girls  as  well  as  boys.  He  is  the 
founder  of  the  Christian  public  school. 
In  1763  Frederick  the  Great  adopted  his 
system  for  Prussia. 

It  must  be  evident  that  these  two 
centuries,  from  Luther  to  Pestalozzi, 
witnessed  great  progress  in  the  matter  of 
religious  education.  Luther  had  simply 
continued  the  method  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
While  he  appreciated  the  value  of  the 
Bible  Story,  and  as  we  shall  see  later, 
commended  its  use,  he  put  the  emphasis 
of  his  instruction  where  the  church  for 
a  thousand  years  before  him  had  placed 


20  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

it,  on  the  Commandments,  the  Creed 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  the  era 
of  catechisms  with  Questions  and  An- 
swers. In  definitions,  and  definitions  of 
definitions,  the  pages  multiplied  to  an 
almost  interminable  extent.  Some  cate- 
chisms had  literally  thousands  of  ques- 
tions and  answers.  Even  Spener,  other- 
wise a  good  teacher,  contributed  little 
toward  a  better  method. 

But  with  Francke  and  the  later  Pie- 
tists, in  the  eighteenth  century,  under  the 
influence  of  the  principles  to  which  we 
have  referred,  came  new  suggestions  as 
to  the  aim  and  the  method  of  catechisa- 
tion.  Rationalism,  it  is  true,  was  a  co- 
worker  in  the  reformation  of  methods, 
but  it  failed  to  reach  the  conceded  aim, 
the  development  of  character,  because  it 
departed  from  historical  Christianity. 

The  nineteenth  century  clarified  and 
put  into  practice  the  ideas  which  the 
eighteenth  century  suggested.  The  em- 
phasis was  no  longer  placed  on  memoriz- 
ing doctrinal  statements.  Bible  History, 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  21 

the  objective  facts  of  Christianity,  became 
the  starting  point,  the  foundation  of 
Christian  instruction. 

Our  own  times  are  witnessing  an  in- 
tense interest  in  both  the  theory  and 
practice  of  teaching.  But  the  strangest 
feature  in  the  history  of  this  movement 
is  that  while  it  originated  in  the  church, 
and  was  developed  by  its  ministers  for 
the  purpose  of  building  up  the  church, 
and  for  the  promotion  of  religious  life, 
the  church  of  to-day  seems  to  be  the  last 
to  derive  any  benefit  from  it.  We  have 
not  a  few  churches  where  the  method  of 
teaching  the  catechism  is  that  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  We  have  theolog- 
ical seminaries  from  which  candidates  for 
the  ministry  are  graduated  who  are 
unable  to  teach  a  class  of  children  in  ac- 
cordance with  approved  pedagogical 
principles.  We  cannot  conceal  from  our- 
selves the  fact  that  in  America  at  least, 
Religious  Education,  as  compared  with 
secular  instruction,  does  not  occupy  the 
queenly  position  to  which  its  origin  and  his- 
tory, as  well  as  its  exalted  aims,  entitle  it. 


Ill 

IN  OTHER  LANDS 

TN  the  matter  of  education  the  position 

of  preceptor  mundi  has  for  centuries 

been  conceded  to    Germany. 

Germany  •»»•••  i 

For  information  as  to  the 
present  condition  of  religious  education  in 
that  empire  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Sachsse, 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Bonn. 

In  Germany  religious  instruction  is  a 
part  of  the  regular  curriculum  of  the 
public  school.  It  is  either  Evangelical, 
(Protestant),  or  Catholic,  in  the  sense  in 
which  these  churches  understand  it,  de- 
nominationally dogmatic  therefore,  and 
not  humanistic.  In  elementary  schools 
there  are  from  thirty  to  thirty-two  hours 
of  instruction  during  the  week.  From 
four  to  six  of  these  hours  are  devoted  to 
religion,  usually  the  first  hours  of  the 
forenoon.  In  the  high  schools,  (gymna- 
siums, colleges),  there  are  also  thirty-two 

22 


IN  OTHER  LANDS  23 

hours  of  instruction.  In  the  lower  classes, 
three  of  these  hours  are  devoted  to  re- 
ligion; in  the  higher  classes,  two.  For 
home  work,  the  pupil  is  expected  to  de- 
vote about  half  an  hour  to  each  lesson. 
In  addition  to  the  religious  instruction 
given  at  school,  the  minister  devotes  two 
hours  a  week  to  advanced  classes  for  a 
year  or  two  prior  to  confirmation. 

In  England  the  question  at  the  present 
time  is  in  a  state  of  flux.     Hitherto,  thru 
a  system  of  National  and  Board 
schools,     religious    education 
was  provided  for  every  child.    Whatever 
the  outcome  may  be  of  the  present  dis- 
cussion, there  will  be  no  diminution  of 
religious  instruction  for  the   children  of 
England. 

In  France  the  state  of  equilibriujn  has 
also  not  yet  been  found.     Professor  Me- 
negoz    of    the   University   of 
Paris  has  kindly  sent  me  an 
account   of  the   present   situation.      Re- 
ligious  instruction   is   not   given   in   the 
public    school.      But,    besides    Sundays, 
Thursdays  are  given  to  the  churches  for  the 


24  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

purpose  of  imparting  religious  instruction 
in  their  own  buildings.  On  these  days  the 
children  do  not  attend  the  public  school. 

There  are  also  denominational  private 
schools, — ecoles  libres — ,  where  religious 
as  well  as  secular  instruction  is  given,  but 
these  are  declining  in  number  and  in- 
fluence. It  has  been  found  impossible 
to  compete  with  the  large  resources  of 
the  public  school. 

In  the  secondary  schools,  (Colleges  and 
Lycees),  religious  instruction  is  given  by 
ministers,  usually  the  pastores  loci,  who 
receive  a  small  salary  from  the  govern- 
ment. But  this  is  regarded  only  as  an 
unavoidable  expedient. 
'  As  for  the  universities,  recent  develop- 
ments have  led  to  the  exclusion  of  religion 
from  them,  but  there  is  a  "Section  des 
sciences  religieuses"  in  the  "Ecole  des 
Hautes-Etudes",  which  maintains  lecture- 
ships on  religion  in  the  Sorbonne. 

For  an  account  of  the  con- 
ditions   in     Sweden,    I     am 
indebted  to  Dr.  von  Scheele,  the  Bishop 
of  Gothland. 


IN  OTHER  LANDS  25 

Religious  instruction  is  given  during 
the  eight  months  of  the  school  year. 
The  average  number  of  hours  per  week 
is  five.  The  subjects  are :  the  Catechism, 
Bible  Story,  Bible  Reading  with  oral  ex- 
planations, and  Church  Song.  In  the 
higher  schools,  and  in  the  upper  classes 
of  the  other  schools,  Church  History  is 
also  a  part  of  the  curriculum. 

The  proportion  of  time  allotted  to 
religious  instruction  is  one-sixth,  that  is, 
over  sixteen  per  cent.  For  home  study, 
the  children  usually  require  an  hour  a 
day  for  their  lessons  in  religion. 


IV 
THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY 

TN  America  religious  instruction  has  by 
judicial  decision  been  excluded  from 
the  public  school.  Roman  Catholics, 
Moravians  and  some  Lutherans  maintain 
parochial  schools. 

Other  churches  have  to  a  great  extent 
delegated  the  work  of  instruction  to  the 
The  Ameri-  Sunday-school.  This  is  a  vol- 
can  System  untary  organization,  connect- 
ed with  the  church,  but  to  a  large  degree 
independent  of  it.  Its  hour  of  instruction, 
or  rather  its  fraction  of  an  hour,  is  con- 
fined to  the  first  day  of  the  week.  So 
great  is  its  influence  and  relative  efficiency, 
that  if  one  were  asked  what  is  the  Ameri- 
can system  of  religious  instruction,  the 
answer  in  most  cases  would  be:  "The 
Sunday-school." 

In  shifting  this  task  to  the  Sunday- 
school,  the  church  has  transferred  its  own 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY  27 

burden  to  weaker  shoulders,  and  to  an 
institution  that  was  not  established  for 
this  purpose. 

The  work  of  religious  instruction  prop- 
erly belongs  to  the  family.    It  was  there 
that    we    found    it    in    early  Duty  of 
Christian   history.     There   it  thc  Family 
belongs  in  the  nature  of  the  case.     No 
plan  of  religious  education  can  be  per- 
manently successful  that  does  not  empha- 
size the  obligation  of  the  family,  and  that 
does    not    aim    at    the    maintenance    of 
family  religion. 

But  next  to  the  family  stands  the 
church  with  its  function  as  a  teacher  of 
religion.  We  make  no  claims  __  _. 

.    .      The  Church 

for  special  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  church  as  an  institution. 
Protestantism  views  the  church  rather  as 
a  fellowship  of  believers,  a  "communion 
of  saints/'  But  from  this  very  standpoint 
it  is  especially  incumbent  upon  the  church 
to  care  for  the  children.  It  is  true,  this 
function  has  been  temporarily  ignored 
among  us,  or  thru  a  mistaken  policy 
committed  to  other  hands,  to  the  public 


28  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

school  in  its  "religious  exercises,"  and 
to  the  Sunday-school  in  its  heroic  effort 
to  accomplish  the  task  in  an  hour  of 
voluntary  work  on  Sunday.  Nevertheless 
the  principles  of  Protestantism  have  never 
repudiated  the  responsibility  of  the  church 
to  care  for  the  Christian  training  of  her 
children. 

If  education  means  the  formation  and 
development  of  character,  how  short- 
sighted the  policy  that  regards  art,  science, 
literature,  morality,  as  the  chief  factors  in 
education,  to  which  may  be  added,  as 
an  eclectic,  a  little  religion  on  Sundays. 
Religion,  as  distinguished  from  all  other 
forces,  brings  us  into  relation  with  the 
life  of  God.  The  church  is  the  organ  and 
agency  thru  which  this  life  is  proclaimed 
and  communicated.  The  church  has 
the  word,  the  ordinances,  the  fellow- 
ship of  believers.  To  the  church  has 
been  committed  by  Divine  hands  the  re- 
sponsibility of  leading  men  to  the  highest 
life. 

This  Is  a  responsibility  that  cannot  be 
delegated  to  any  other  agency.  Such  a 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY   29 

fundamental  thing  as  religious  education 
should  therefore  be  under  the  care  of  the 
church  and  its  ministry,  and  should  be 
so  conducted  as  to  hold  in  view  the  princi- 
ples and  the  aims  of  the  church  life,  and 
its  final  purpose  should  be  to  lead  the 
children  into  the  church  and  to  make 
them  participants  in  its  privileges  and 
obligations. 

The  church  has  always  recognized 
more  or  less  distinctly  her  mission  in  this 
respect.  But  there  have  been  when  the 
times  also  when  she  has  failed  Church  Failcd 
to  do  so.  From  the  history  of  education 
it  is  clear  that  the  contributions  of 
the  church,  thru  such  men  as  Luther,  Me- 
lanchthon,  Comenius,  Francke  and  Pesta- 
lozzi  made  the  modern  educational  system 
possible.*  The  Protestant  Church  is  the 
mother  of  the  public  school.  But  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  church  was  not 
equal  to  her  opportunity,  and  she  proved 
unfaithful  to  her  stewardship.  The  domi- 
nant influence  in  education  passed  over 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  emphasized 

*See  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  article '  on  Education. 


30  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  development  of  natural  powers,  of 
those  who  were  not  friends  of  Christ. 
Thru  her  own  negligence  the  church 
lost  her  opportunity  and  was  pushed 
aside.  The  methods  and  material  which 
her  spirit  had  created,  and  which  her 
ministers  had  formed  into  effective  tools, 
were  handed  over  to  secular  agencies,  and 
she  herself  took  a  subordinate  place  in  the 
work  of  education. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury we  find  the  curriculum  of  the  school 
Crowded  life  filled  to  overflowing  with 
secular  studies.  {  It  requires 
almost  the  strength  of  an  athlete  to 
handle  all  the  books  which  the  children 
carry  home  under  their  arms.»  The 
Superintendent  of  Schools  has  felt  it 
necessary  to  give  special  instructions  as 
to  the  best  way  to  carry  books  so  as  to 
prevent  physical  injury.  When  here  and 
there  a  pastor  tries  to  get  a  little  study  in 
religion  from  his  children,  he  is  met  with 
the  plea:  "We  have  so  many  school 
lessons,  we  cannot  learn  the  lessons  you 
give  us."  If  he  insists,  he  realizes  that 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY   31 

his  children  have  a  double  task  to  learn, 
and  the  church  has  to  suffer.  The 
church  seems  to  have  no  rights  which  the 
school  is  bound  to  respect. 

In  saying  this  I  do  not  blame  the  school 
authorities.  They  simply  came  into  an 
unoccupied  field.  The  church  failed  to 
recognize  her  obligation,  relinquished  her 
week-day  opportunities,  made  no  peda- 
gogical demands  on  her  ministry,  and  was 
content  to  play  at  education  on  Sundays. 

Roman  Catholics  recognize  their  obli- 
gation in  the  matter  of  Christian  educa- 
tion, and  with  great  sacrifices   Parochial 
are    endeavoring   to   meet    it   SchooU 
thru  their  system  of  parochial  schools. 
All  honor  to  them  for  their  consistency 
and  perseverance. 

Adherents  of  this  communion  claim 
that  the  state  ought  to  contribute  a  portion 
of  the  school  funds  for  the  support  of  the 
church  school.  Moravians  also  maintain 
parochial  schools,  and  so  does  a  portion 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  Missouri 
Synod  reports  over  a  thousand  teachers 
and  a  hundred  thousand  scholars.  But 


32  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

neither  Moravians  nor  Lutherans  ask  for 
public  money.  They  maintain  the  obli- 
gation of  the  state  to  provide  general 
education,  and  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
provide  religious  instruction  for  its  mem- 
bers. 

But  Protestants  generally  are  not  pre- 
pared to  accept  the  parochial  school  as 
the  solution. 

On  the  other  hand,  from  ministers, 
conferences  and  church  papers  there 
Religion  in  the  comes  perennially  the  plea 
Public  School,  for  "Religion  in  the  public 
schools."  If  by  this  is  meant  no  more 
than  the  reading  of  a  psalm  and  the  reci- 
tation of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  perhaps  the 
plea  may  be  granted,  and  for  an  indefinite 
number  of  years,  without  straining  the 
constitution,  we  may  retain  "Religion  in 
the  public  schools." 

But  there  are  two  objections.  Are 
they  not  vital?  One  is  denominational. 
Even  if  Protestants  could  agree  on  some 
ground,  which  is  improbable,  what  kind 
of  a  conglomerate  would  that  be  which 
would  be  acceptable  alike  to  Roman 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILIT     33 

Catholics,  Protestants,  Jews  and  Ag- 
nostics? The  thing  is  inconceivable. 
But  there  is  another  objection.  The 
method  of  secular  instruction  differs  from 
that  of  religious  instruction.  Secular 
knowledge  is  acquired  by  intellectual  and 
critical  powers.  Religion  is  a  matter  of 
the  heart  and  life.  The  holy  mysteries 
of  our  faith  cannot  be  taught  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  mathematics  and  biology. 

No;  the  Church  and  the  State  are 
distinct  spheres.  The  alliance  between 
the  two  in  the  past  has  not  produced  such 
results  as  would  encourage  us  to  renew 
or  to  continue  the  partnership  for  the 
future. 

There  are  those  who  think  that  ethical 
teaching  in  the  public  schools  on  week- 
days, with  religious  teaching  in  the 
churches  on  Sundays,  will  meet  the  want. 
No  one  will  object  to  ethical  teaching  in 
the  public  school.  If  all  that  we  read  in 
the  newspapers  is  true,  such  a  course 
might  properly  be  described  as  a  felt 
need.  But  it  cannot  take  the  place  of 
religion.  The  Christian  religion  is  a 


34  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

revelation  in  history,  resting  upon  certain 
facts  that  have  to  be  learned  and  com- 
municated to  others.  It  has  certain 
principles  which  have  to  be  applied  to 
the  daily  life.  It  is  a  matter  for  all  days 
and  all  places,  and  not  merely  for  Sun- 
days and  for  the  sanctuary.  Its  relation 
to  the  whole  life  places  it  in  the  foremost 
place  in  the  training  and  development 
of  the  young  in  order  that  its  highest 
ideals  may  be  attained.  Hence,  it  will 
be  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  of  a  sub- 
stitute for  religious  instruction,  or  to  find 
any  agency  other  than  the  Christian 
church  thru  which  it  can  properly  and 
effectively  be  imparted. 

Neither  is  it  practicable  to  make  such 
an  adjustment  of  denominational  differ- 
ences, a  composite  photograph  as  it  wTere 
of  all  religions,  an  American  religion,  to 
be  taught  in  the  public  school,  as  would 
satisfy  any  of  the  churches.  The  churches 
are  entitled  to  teach  their  children  re- 
ligion in  strict  accord  with  their  own 
convictions. 

Is  the  parochial  school  then,  after  all, 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY   35 

the  solution  of  the  question?  Must  we 
retire  from  the  public  school,  separate 
ourselves  from  the  moral  and  educational 
problems  of  society  and  the  State,  and 
thus  be  untrue  to  our  entire  history? 
For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  public  school 
is  the  child  of  the  Christian  school. 
After  spending  four  hundred  years  in 
developing  a  system  of  education  for  the 
people,  and  handing  it  over  to  the  State 
for  the  benefit  of  all,  are  we  to  be  de- 
prived of  the  privileges  of  our  own  sys- 
tern?  We  have  no  thought  of  doing  so, 
of  retiring  from  a  school  which  the  State 
would  never  have  had  but  for  the  untiring 
efforts  of  Protestant  ministers  and  Protes- 
tant churches.  The  teachers  and  direct- 
ors of  the  public  school  are,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  members  of  our  churches. 
Its  principles  are  those  which  have  been 
inculcated  by  our  pulpits.  Its  most  loyal 
and  efficient  supporters  are  our  Protestant 
churches.  There  are,  it  is  true,  things  of 
highest  importance  which  the  secular 
school  does  not  supply.  In  order  that  we 
may  not  lose  these,  must  we  go  back  to 


36  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  private  or  parochial  school  and  build 
up  anew  our  system  of  education  ? 

We  do  not  ask  for  the  teaching  of  re- 
ligion in  the  public  school.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  object  to  a  State  religion.  Of 
the  three  churches  that  are  supposed  to 
favor  Christian  education  in  the  day 
school,  Roman  Catholics,  Episcopalians 
and  Lutherans,  the  last  named  certainly 
would  not  favor  it  for  the  public  school. 
Even  in  Europe  the  tendency  is  distinctly 
in  the  direction  of  separating  religious 
education  from  State  control. 

In  this  city  the  public  schools  are  over- 
crowded. There  might  be  more  room  if 
the  friends  of  the  Christian  school  were 
to  withdraw.  But  this  would  not  benefit 
the  public  school.  It  increases  the  com- 
monwealth to  mingle  the  classes.  A 
system  of  separate  schools  is  beneficial 
neither  to  the  State  nor  the  church.  If 
Christians  are  to  be  the  salt  and  the  light 
of  the  world,  they  must  be  in  the  world 
and  not  out  of  it.  The  parochial  school 
is  not  the  solution. 

Does  the  Sunday-school  meet  the  re- 


THE  CHURCH'S  RESPONSIBILITY   37 

quirements  of  religious  instruction?  It 
is  an  institution  that  has  en-  The  Sunday- 
deared  itself  to  the  hearts  of  Sch°o1 
millions.  Originally  intended  for  the 
half-fed  waifs  of  an  English  manufactur- 
ing town,  it  has  become  among  English- 
speaking  people  an  important  agency  of 
religion.  Apart  from  the  instruction 
which  it  gives,  we  could  not  dispense  with 
it  as  a  field  for  the  cultivation  of  lay 
activity,  and  a  practical  demonstration 
of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers.  Never- 
theless, its  best  friends  concede  its  limita- 
tions. From  a  pedagogical  standpoint, 
no  one  thinks  of  comparing  it  with  the 
secular  school.  With  but  half  an  hour  a 
week  for  instruction,  even  the  best  of 
teachers  could  not  expect  very  important 
results.  xlts  chief  value  lies  in  the  personal 
influence  of  the  teacher.'  But  instruction 
in  religion  involves  more  than  this. 

Nor  does  the  Sunday-school  reach  all 
the  children.  Attendance  is  voluntary, 
and  hence  there  is  no  guarantee  that  all 
the  children  of  school  age  will  obtain  any 
instruction,  to  say  nothing  of  graded  and 


38  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

systematic  instruction,  taking  account  of 
the  entire  school  life,  and  holding  in  mind 
the  ultimate  object  of  instruction,  the 
preparation  of  children  for  full  mem- 
bership in  the  church.  But  this  is  one 
of  the  first  duties  of  the  churches,  to  look 
after  all  their  children  with  this  end  in 
view.  Pedobaptists  are  under  this  obli- 
gation because  their  children  have  been 
baptized,  and  Baptists  owe  it  to  their 
children  in  order  that  they  may  be  bap- 
tized. 

Let  us  make  the  most  of  the  Sunday- 
school  which  has  providentially  grown  up 
among  us.  As  a  supplement  and  an  aid 
it  has  untold  possibilities  of  usefulness. 
But  all  its  merits  and  advantages  cannot 
close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  it  does  not 
and  cannot  meet  the  chief  requirement 
of  the  Christian  school,  the  systematic 
preparation  of  all  the  children  for  the 
duties  of  church  membership. 

The  church  cannot  shirk  her  responsi- 
bility. Her  very  existence  depends  upon 
it. 


"A  WEEK-DAY  SUNDAY-SCHOOL" 

T  71  7HAT  solution  then  can  be  found  by 
*  *  those  who  are  seeking  relief  from  the 
present  unsatisfactory,  shall  we  not  say 
intolerable,  conditions?  Germany  with 
her  State  church  cannot  give  us  the  clue. 
England  is  herself  at  the  present  moment 
in  the  throes  of  a  revolution  on  this 
question  and  cannot  help  us.  France  is 
more  likely  to  offer  a  practical  suggestion. 
If  "infidel"  France  is  able  to  give 
Thursdays  to  the  churches,  what  can 
America  do?  Can  she  not  give  at  least 
one  afternoon,  say  Wednesday  afternoon  ? 
Two  hours  of  grammar  or  geography 
would  have  to  be  sacrificed,  but  it  would 
give  the  churches  an  invalu-  Wednesday 
able  opportunity  of  establish-  Afternoon 
ing  schools  in  their  own  buildings  in  which 
systematic  instruction  in  religion  could 
be  given.  This  is  asking  for  8%  of  the 


39 


40  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

school  hours  for  religion.  Germany  gives 
from  four  to  six  hours,  or  from  12  to  16%. 
Does  America  owe  so  little  to  the  religious 
life  of  the  nation  that  she  cannot  afford  to 
surrender  two  hours  for  its  perpetuation  ? 
We  ought  not  to  say  surrender,  we  ought 
to  say  restore.  For,  viewed  historically, 
it  is  only  a  partial  restoration  of  the 
time  which  originally  belonged  to  the 
churches,  but  which  under  conditions  that 
have  been  indicated,  has  been  taken 
away  from  her. 

I  venture  to  advocate  the  value  of  such 
week-day  instruction  from  a  practical 
trial  of  its  advantages.  In  my  ministry 
on  the  East  Side  I  made  use  for  thirty 
years  of  the  traditional  agency  for  the 
instruction  of  children,  the  Sunday-school, 
with  additional  week-day  classes  in  the 
catechism,  for  the  older  children  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age.  But  so 
far  as  a  permanent  religious  influence 
upon  the  great  majority  of  the  children 
is  concerned,  the  results  were  not  satis- 
factory. 

About  ten  years  ago,  after  several  years 


"A  WEEK-DAY  SUNDAY-SCHOOL"  41 

of  experiment  on  a  smaller  scale,  I  estab- 
lished week-day  classes  for  all  the  chil- 
dren of  the  congregation,  from  five  or  six 
years  upward.  Attendance  was  made 
obligatory,  and  after  a  few  years  of  patient 
insistence,  the  rule  was  generally  ob- 
served. 

The  hours  are  at  four  p.  M.  from  Mondays 
to  Fridays,  and  nine  A.  M.  on  Saturdays. 
The  younger  grades  have  but  one  hour 
each  week.  The  older  scholars,  catechu- 
mens, from  two  to  three  hours. 

The  subjects  are  Bible  Story,  Bible 
Study,  (geography,  history,  books,  etc.) 
the  church  catechism,  hymns,  prayers, 
the  church  liturgy  or  service,  and  oral  or 
written  reports  of  the  sermon.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  course  is  not  simply  education, 
but  also  training  in  the  church  life,  so 
as  to  make  the  children  intelligent  partici- 
pants in  the  church  services,  and  to  pre- 
pare them  for  the  privileges  of  church 
membership. 

But  some  one  will  say:  "Does  this  not 
solve  your  problem  without  encroaching 
at  all  on  the  time  of  the  public  school? 


42  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Why  should  you  ask  for  an  afternoon 
when  you  can  take  all  the  time  there  is 
left  after  school  hours  ?" 

For  two  reasons: 

First,  we  get  the  children  when  they 
have  already  done  their  day's  work  at 
school,  and  are  too  tired  to  do  their  best 
in  the  Religion  Hour.  To  learn  well, 
the  mind  must  be  fresh  and  vigorous.  Is 
it  fair  to  the  churches  to  give  them  the 
fag  end  of  the  day  for  religion,  the  crumbs 
that  fall  from  the  rich  man's  table  ?  The 
church  is  not  a  Lazarus. 

But  there  is  another  reason.     Home 

study  is  needed  for  proper  preparation  of 

the  lessons  in  religion  no  less 

Home  Study 

than  tor  those  ot  the  secular 
school.  For  this  demand  on  the  child's 
time,  the  present  curriculum  of  the  school 
makes  no  provision. 

For  example,  from  the  older  children, 
from  thirteen  years  upward,  the  follow- 
ing weekly  tasks  are  required: 

1.  A  written  report  of  last  Sunday's 
sermon. 

2.  A  written  catechetical  exercise. 


"A  WEEK-DAY  SUNDAY-SCHOOL"  43 

3.  Memory  work  in   Bible,   catechism 
and  hymn  book,  for  two  recitations. 

4.  Written  and  oral  report  on  a  Bible 
story. 

5.  Report  on  Daily  Bible  Readings. 

6.  Miscellaneous  recitations  on  related 
subjects.  { 

The  younger  classes  have  similar  tasks, 
adapted  to  their  age  and  capacity. 

Is  this  asking  too  much  of  the  children  ? 
What  is  there  in  this  scheme  that  can  be 
omitted,  with  any  pretence  of  giving  in- 
struction in  religion  ? 

But  so  long  as  the  public  school  is  not 
required  to  take  note  of  the  educational 
work  which  the  church  has  to  do,  it 
exacts  home  study  to  the  utmost  capacity 
of  the  pupil.  With  the  bogy  of  examina- 
tion and  promotion  constantly  before  the 
child's  mind,  the  pastor  finds  it  difficult 
to  get  from  it  the  work  which  he  has  a 
right  to  expect.  "We  have  so  many 
school  lessons,"  is  the  excuse  which  is 
offered  and  on  the  strength  of  this  plea 
he  reluctantly  curtails  his  own  require- 
ments. 


44  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Surely  any  loss  which  the  children  sus- 
tain in  secular  studies  is  more  than  com- 
pensated by  their  gain  in  religious  knowl- 
edge. As  one  of  our  School  Superin- 
tendents well  said:  "Even  if  the  method 
of  teaching  should  be  inferior  to  that  of 
the  public  school,  the  material  is  so  much 
more  valuable,  that  the  child  would  not 
suffer  any  loss." 

There  is  one  misconception  of  the  plan 
which  we  find  it  hard  to  correct.  The 
plan  does  not  involve  the 
C1°Schooi?bHc  closing  of  the  public  school 
on  Wednesday  afternoons,  and 
turning  the  non-church  children  into  the 
street.  It  simply  asks  that  all  children, 
who  by  consent  of  their  parents  attend 
the  church  school  and  bring  a  certificate 
of  attendance,  shall  be  excused  for  their 
absence  from  the  public  school.  It  also 
asks  that  the  curriculum  of  the  public 
school  shall  be  so  arranged  that  the 
absentees  have  nothing  to  make  up,  and 
shall  not  suffer  an  irreparable  loss  in 
their  educational  progress.  Music,  eti- 
quette, ethics,  cord  work,  raffia,  sewing 


"A  WEEK-DAY  SUNDAY-SCHOOL"  45 

or  electives  might  be  given  to  those  who 
remain. 

On  the  part  of  the  churches  we  can 
safely  promise  that  our  children  will  not 
fall  behind  the  others  in  general  attain- 
ments because  of  this  change  of  at- 
mosphere in  the  middle  of  the  week. 


VI 
LIONS  IN  THE  WAY" 

object  of  this  little  book  is  to 
bring  before  American  Christians  a 
question  that  must  sooner  or  later  be  de- 
cided. The  more  t{ioroly  the  question  is 
discussed,  the  more  likely  shall  we  be  to 
reach  a  reasonable  conclusion.  Doubt- 
less there  are  difficulties.  But  they  are 
not  to  be  compared  with  the  difficulties 
in  which  we  shall  continue  to  be  in- 
volved so  long  as  we  do  not  make 
adequate  preparation  for  the  systematic 
religious  education  of  our  children.  Let 
us  consider  some  of  the  objections  that 
are  made  to  the  proposition. 

1.  On  the  part  of  the  school  it  is  claimed 
that  it  needs  all  the  time  it  now  has.  We 
Public  School  freely  grant  this.  It  is  doing 
Needs  ail  the  Titanic  work.  It  is  con- 
stantly improving  its  methods, 
and  its  magnificent  attainments  compel 

46 


"  LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"          47 

our  admiration.  But  if  all  this  must  be 
purchased  at  the  cost  of  religion,  the 
price  is  too  high. 

The  following  schedule  gives  the  course 
of  study  in  the  public  schools  of  New 
York:  ' 

TIME  SCHEDULE  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  1500  MINUTES  PER 
WEEK 

YEARS  I.          II.         III.        TV.         V.        VI.  VII.        VIII. 

Opening  Exercises      75       75       75       75       75       75  75  75 

Physical  Training, 
Physiology  and 
Hygiene,  Re- 
cesses and  Or- 
ganized Games  450  165  165  150  90  90  90  90 

English 450     510     450     375     375     375         360         320 

Penmanship 100     125     125       75       75       75       

Electives  (German, 
French,    Span- 
ish)          200 

Geography 135     120     120  80       

History 90     120         120         120 

Mathematics  ....      125     150     150     150     150     200         200         200 

Nature  Study  ...        90       90       90       90       75 

Science 80  80 

Drawing  and  Con- 
structive Work  120  120  120  120  120  120  80  80 

Cord  and  Raffia.        30       30       30 

Sewing 30      60      60      60       

Shop  Work,  Cook- 
ing or  Advanced 
Sewing 80  80 

Music 60      60      60      60      60      60          60          60 

Study  and  Unas- 

•ignedTime 175     205     210     210     205         275         195 

1500  1500  1500  1500  1500  1500       1500       1500 

All  of  these  are  important.  But  some 
are  of  relatively  less  importance  than 
others,  and  in  view  of  a  greater  need,  it  is 
conceivable  that  certain  branches  might 
be  taught  on  Wednesdays,  and  the  les- 
sons given  in  the  church  school  accepted 


48  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

as  an  adequate  substitute,  so  far  as  in- 
tellectual training  is  concerned.  For 
example : 

Public  School.  Church  School. 

Music.  Music. 

Geography.  Bible  Geography 

Penmanship.  Written  Lessons. 

English  Com-  Reports  of  Ser- 

position  mons. 

Hygiene.  Way  of  Salvation. 

Memory  Work  Memory  Work 

But  if  the  school  cannot  spare  these 
two  hours,  not  even  from  its  three  or 
four  hours  of  unassigned  time,  and  if  the 
foregoing  church  lessons  are  not  an 
adequate  substitute  for  school  lessons,  we 
have  another  proposition.  The  two  lost 
hours  may  be  recovered  by  adding  a 
half  hour  to  each  of  the  other  four  school 
days.  Only  let  the  churches  have  a 
fair  proportion  of  the  best  school  hours 
for  exercising  their  legitimate  function  in 
education. 

2.  "There  is  no  imperative  demand 
for  it  on  the  part  of  the  public." 

The  demand  may  not  have  taken  just 


"  LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"  49 

this  form.  And  there  doubtless  are  mul- 
titudes of  people  who  believe  that  the 
Sunday-school  and  the  "religious  exer- 
cises" of  the  public  school  furnish  a  suf- 
ficient amount  and  quality  of  religious 
education. 

But,  it  may  confidently  be  asserted  that, 
in  America  as  in  England,  there  are  few 
subjects  which  at  the  present  time  mor£ 
deeply  engage  the  interest  of  thoughtful 
men  than  that  of  religious  education. 
As  soon  as  an  opportunity  can  be  given 
for  the  American  public  to  express  itself 
on  this  subject,  the  demand  for  it  will  be 
emphatic,  and  the  interest  not  less  mani- 
fest than  in  England,  where  on  a  recent 
occasion  in  Parliament  forty  men  were 
on  their  feet  prepared  to  discuss  the 
question  as  soon  as  a  speaker  had 
finished. 

3.  "The  churches  now  have  abundant 
opportunities  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays, 
and  hours  after  school  on  other  days." 
(Why  not  also  "all  the  hours  from  mid- 
night till  6  A.  M.  ?  ") 

Answer:    Sunday  is  a  day  of  rest  and 


50  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

worship.  Saturday  is  a  day  of  recreation. 
If  recreation  is  not  needed,  the  public 
school  is  welcome  to  all  of  Saturday  to 
make  up  for  its  losses  on  Wednesday 
afternoon. 

4.  "Sunday  services  could  be  made  to 
subserve  the  purposes  of  instruction. " 

Answer:  They  are  used  for  that  pur- 
pose now.  But  instruction  implies  an 
amount  of  intellectual  labor  for  which 
neither  ministers  nor  scholars  should  be 
compelled  to  use  their  rest  day.  Sunday 
services  have  a  character  of  their  own 
and  should  not  be  confused  with  the  curric- 
ulum of  an  educational  institution. 

5.  "Christian  parents  should  be  awak- 
ened to  their  duty." 

Answer:    How  can  they  be,  when  the 
)  soporific      of      superabounding      secular  \ 
studieS\  makes    them    insensible    to    the 
primary  importance  of  religion  ? 

6.  "The  proposition   implies   that  the 
public  school  is  in  some  respects    radi- 
cally deficient." 

Yes,  this  we  concede. 

7.  "The    church  calls  upon  the  arpj 


"  LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"          51 

of  the  State,  (the  vagrant  officer),  to  en- 
force attendance  at  the  church  school." 

Nonsense.  The  church  needs  no  help 
from  the  State  to  enforce  attendance. 
Membership  in  the  church  is  voluntary. 
But  the  church,  like  any  other  society, 
asks  its  members  to  fulfil  their  obligations. 

The  proposition  is  that  scholars  attend- 
ing church  schools  shall  be  excused  from 
attending  public  school.  Only  enrolled 
children,  or  children  bringing  a  certificate 
of  attendance,  are  excused.  There  is 
no  compulsion,  and  no  vagrant  officer 
is  needed  by  the  church. 

8.  "The  public  school  now  teaches 
the  things  that  make  for  righteousness." 
So  it  does,  and  so  it  should.  So  ought 
every  other  institution. 

But  our  plan  aims  at  something  more 
than  morals,  something  which  the  school 
admittedly  cannot  teach  to  its  promis- 
cuous charge,  but  which  the  church  is  in 
duty  bound  to  teach  to  the  members  of 
its  flock. 

But  the  greatest  difficulties  are  those 
which  are  suggested  by  ministers  them- 


52  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

selves.  It  was  the  ministers  who  failed 
to  respond  to  the  plans  of  Charlemagne, 
and  thus  frustrated  the  purpose  of  that 
enlightened  ruler.  It  was  the  ministers 
who  in  the  eighteenth  century  surren- 
dered into  secular  hands  the  inestimable 
heritage  which  belonged  to  them,  and 
it  is  the  ministers  to-day  who,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  primary  education  at  least,  are 
content  to  follow  rather  than  to  lead. 

1.  "Ministers  are  not  trained  teachers 
and  are  not  equal  to  the  task." 

It  is  alas  too  true  that  our  Theological 
Seminaries  have  neglected  this  part  of  a 
minister's  preparation  for  his  work.  We 
heard  very  little  about  Herbart,  and  the 
doctrine  of  apperception  is  not  very 
clear  to  us  even  now.  But  a  better  day 
is  coming.  Seminaries  are  beginning  to 
teach  teaching.  The  time  is  coming 
when  candidates  for  the  ministry  will  be 
required  to  demonstrate  their  attain- 
ments in  the  theory  and  practice  of  this 
art.  In  the  meantime,  let  us  use  our 
ordinary  common  sense  and  do  the  best 
we  can  with  such  gifts  as  we  possess. 


"  LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"          53 

Those  who  come  after  us  will  do  better 
work,  we  hope. 

2.  "Ministers  are  already  taxed  to  the 
limit  of  their  powers,  and  cannot  possibly 
shoulder  this  new  responsibility." 

And  yet  the  church  is  the  mother  of 
education.  Is  it  conceivable  that  the 
Christian  minister  will  definitely  repu- 
diate his  obligation  to  feed  Christ's 
lambs?  He  must  find  time  for  this 
work,  no  matter  what  else  he  surrenders. 

Roman  Catholics  say  that  if  they  have 
no  schools  they  will  have  no  churches. 
Protestants,  perhaps,  may  retain  au- 
diences by  present  methods.  But  it  will 
be  a  hard  task  to  build  up  churches.  All 
the  evangelists  in  the  country  will  not 
be  able  to  head  off  the  escaped  sheep 
that  might  easily  have  been  gathered  into 
the  fold  while  they  were  lambs.  So  long 
as  we  treat  the  teaching  of  children  as  a 
matter  of  indifference,  or  place  it  in  irre- 
sponsible hands,  we  shall  struggle  in 
vain  to  secure  a  permanent  influence  upon 
the  great  body  of  those  who  properly 
belong  to  our  flocks.  Alas  for  the  chil- 


54  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

dren,  alas    for  the    churches  where    the 
pastor  is  unwilling  or  unable  to  teach. 

3.  "Where  will  you  get  the   helpers  ?" 
The  writer  serves  a  church  of  limited 

resources,  but  for  ten  years  he  has 
gathered  nearly  three  hundred  children 
into  his  week-day  classes.  The  present 
corps  of  teachers  consists  of  a  trained 
teacher,  a  deaconess  and  several  volunteers 
from  the  congregation.  The  pastor's 
contribution  is  about  five  hours  per  week. 
Some  congregations  may  be  able  to 
secure  salaried  teachers.  Volunteers  are 
available  in  many  cases.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  in  such  a  week-day 
school  one  teacher  can,  if  necessary,  take 
charge  of  thirty  or  forty  pupils. 

4.  Another  difficulty  is  the  want  of  a 
scheme  of  instruction  that  will  make  the 
course  equal  in  value  to  that  given  in  the 
public  school.     This  is  a  matter  which 
each  congregation  will  have  to  arrange  for 
itself.     But  no  one  would  for  a  moment 
concede    the    permanent    impotence    or 
inferiority  of  the  church  in  this  respect. 

In  following  pages  a  scheme  is  offered, 


"LIONS  IN  THE  WAY"  55 

not  as  a  model  but  only  as  a  suggestion. 
5.  "But  suppose  the  children  will  not 


come." 


They  will  come,  if  we  make  it 
worth  coming.  Nevertheless,  one  of  the 
features  of  this  system  is  that  attendance 
on  the  part  of  the  children  should  be 
obligatory.  That  is,  they  are  expected  to 
come,  and  absence  must  be  accounted 
for.  Most  parents  appreciate  such  aid 
on  the  part  of  the  church.  After  two 
or  three  years  of  disciplinary  insistence, 
almost  all  will  be  convinced  of  its  im- 
portance. Those  who  are  not,  would 
probably  find  a  more  congenial  home  in 
some  other  congregation. 

A  certain  amount  of  discipline  would 
not  be  unwholesome  in  our  Protestant 
churches.  In  this  case  it  would  be  a 
way  in  which  people  could  show  their 
loyalty  to  that  for  which  their  church 
stands.  People  appreciate  most  the 
things  that  cost  something.  The  lessons 
of  authority,  of  obligation,  of  duty  are  not 
the  least  of  those  which  our  generation 
would  do  well  to  leara. 


VII 
THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE 

HHHE  earliest  catechumenate  was  that 
of  the  proselytes.  It  was  based  on 
Christ's  command,  "Go  ye  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,.... 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  commanded  you."  The  church 
was  a  missionary  organization,  and  its  aim 
was  to  convert  people  to  the  Christian  view 
of  life.  Instruction  was  thought  of  as  an 
implantation  of  the  word:  "Receive 
with  meekness  the  implanted  word  which 
is  able  to  save  your  souls."  (James  1 : 
21.)  It  preceded  baptism  and  was 
continued  afterward  under  various  grades 
of  teachers. 

One  object  was  to  establish  Christian 

usages  and  to  accustom  people  to  them. 

In  later  periods,  when  it  be- 

Proselytes  .    . 

came    popular    to    join    the 
church,  the  term  of  probation  was  exten- 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     57 

ded  to  several  years  and  a  rich  liturgical 
ceremony  was  prescribed.  This  was  done, 
partly  for  the  purpose  of  substituting 
Christian  rites  in  place  of  the  heathen 
mysteries,  and  partly  because  of  the  mys- 
tagogical  or  educational  value  of  the 
forms.  There  were  grades  and  classes  of 
catechumens,  chiefly  the  audientes  and 
the  competentes.  At  successive  stages 
of  their  instruction  they  were  admitted 
to  new  glimpses  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine and  service.  For  example,  the 
exact  wording  of  the  Creed  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  was  not  entrusted  to  them 
until  the  close  of  their  probation.  Much 
of  it  was  an  ornate  ritualism,  but  the  un- 
derlying purpose  was  that  the  partici- 
pants might  be  brought  to  a  personal 
and  heartfelt  confession  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

After  the  middle  of  the  third  century, 
when  infant  baptism  became  the  rule,  the 
child    catechumenate    gradu-   Lessons  for 
ally  superseded    that    of    the   Childrcn 
proselytes,  and  under  Gregory  the  Great 
it  became   the   rule   of   the   church.     A 


58  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

systematic  training  of  the  baptized  chil- 
dren was  aimed  at  and  to  some  extent 
secured  through  the  sponsors,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  provide  the  godchildren 
with  religious  instruction  until  they 
reached  years  of  discretion  and  were 
able  to  come  to  their  first  confession. 
Among  the  prescribed  subjects  were  the 
Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Gloria. 
In  the  ninth  century  parochial  schools 
were  established  to  assist  in  the  system- 
atic Christian  training  of  the  young. 
The  Bible  history  was  largely  given  in  the 
form  of  poems,  and  the  plastic  repre- 
sentations of  the  churches  of  those  days 
aided  in  giving  the  people  a  definite  idea 
of  the  story  of  the  Bible. 

But  not  only  Christian  teaching,  Chris- 
tian training  also  played  an  important 
part  in  the  work  of  the  church  at  that 
time.  Rules  of  living  and  the  services 
of  the  church  accustomed  the  people  to 
the  Christian  view  of  life.  Of  special 
importance  was  the  practice  of  private 
confession  which  began  to  be  transferred 
from  the  convent  life  to  the  pastoral  care 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     59 

of  children.  It  consisted  in  the  recitation 
of  certain  church  forms,  and  in  instruc- 
tion on  moral  distinctions  on  the  basis  of 
Scripture  passages.  It  aimed  also  to 
obtain  a  pastoral  view  of  the  state  of  mind 
and  heart  of  the  child.  For  the  purpose 
of  individualization  the  Ten  Command- 
ments were  used  as  a  speculum  peccato- 
rum.  The  imposition  of  penances  ac- 
customed the  people  to  the  practice  of 
obedience  to  the  church's  demands.  The 
age  produced  a  number  of  treatises  on 
the  method  of  training  catechumens. 
The  most  important  of  them  is  Gerson's, 
"On  Bringing  the  Little  Ones  to  Christ," 
a  work  in  which  the  aim  of  the  catechu- 
menate  is  set  forth  in  a  substantially 
evangelical  manner. 

These  times  are  sometimes  called  "the 
Dark  Ages."  But  let  us  not  forget  that 
they  were  periods  when  nations  were 
converted  and  brought  under  the  quicken- 
ing power  of  Christianity. 

The  Reformation  gave  new  signifi- 
cance and  character  to  the  ancient  cate- 
chumenate.  At  first  it  was  not  a  cate- 


60  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

chumenate  for  children,  but  rather  for 
Reformation  the  whole  people.  Entire  con- 
Catechisms  gregations  had  to  be  instructed 
in  the  fundamentals  of  religion.  As  a 
ripe  fruit  of  his  experience  in  preaching, 
teaching  and  the  care  of  souls,  Luther 
published  in  1529  his  Small  Catechism, 
a  book  which  still  holds  its  place 
as  the  fairest  fruit  of  the  catechetical 
literature  of  all  ages.  Its  arrangement  is 
Decalogue,  Creed  and  Lord's  Prayer, 
that  is  Law,  Gospel,  and  the  New  Life, 
with  supplemental  chapters  on  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  its  form  and 
arrangement,  and  even  in  some  of  its 
expressions,  it  reproduced  the  best 
results  of  the  preceding  ages.  The  occa- 
sion for  its  publication  was  the  lament- 
able condition  of  the  religious  instruction 
of  children  as  he  found  it  during  a  visi- 
tation of  the  churches  in  Electoral  Sax- 
ony. The  book  at  once  became  exceed- 
ingly popular  and  produced  a  complete 
transformation  in  the  religious  training 
of  the  people. 

The  example  set  by  Luther  was  fol- 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMEN  ATE     61 

lowed  by  the  Reformed,  who  published 
their  Heidelberg  Catechism  in  1563,  and 
even  by  the  Roman  Catholics  who  pub- 
lished their  Trent  Catechism  in  1566. 

In  Spener's  time,  and  that  of  the 
Pietists,  the  religious  and  pedagogic  im- 
portance of  Bible  History  came  to  be 
understood,  and  since  then  this  form  of 
imparting  religious  knowledge  has  taken 
the  first  place. 

Catechization  sympathized  with  the 
spirit  of  the  subsequent  intellectual  and 
religious  movements.  Thus  in  the  days 
of  Rationalism  the  chief  aim  was  use- 
fulness, not  so  much  the  formation  of 
Christian  character  as  the  training  of 
useful  citizens.  Under  Pestalozzi  the 
new  pedagogical  methods  were  intro- 
duced, and  the  great  changes  produced  a 
century  ago  by  the  leaders  in  philosophy, 
art  and  literature,  left  their  permanent  im- 
pression upon  catechetics  as  well. 

Two  questions  are  incidentally  in- 
volved in  my  subject.  The  first  is  the 
relation  of  the  children  to  the  church. 
There  are  those  who  believe  that  the 


62  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Spirit  of  God  is  incapable  of  influencing 
Relation  of  *^e  undeveloped  spiritual  life 
Children  to  of  a  child,  and  that  years  of  dis- 

Church  .  -iii. 

cretionmustbe  attained  before 
we  can  speak  of  regenerating  influence. 
Just  what  the  relation  of  the  children  to 
the  church  in  such  a  system  is,  it  is  hard 
to  tell.  They  are  not  Christian,  neither 
are  they  heathen.  They  must  be  in 
some  kind  of  a  limbus  infanlum.  Many 
retain  the  practice  of  infant  baptism, 
who  if  questioned  closely,  will  admit  that 
they  mean  nothing  by  it. 

There  are  those  on  the  other  hand 
who  believe  that  baptism  is  more  than 
a  mere  symbol,  a  suggestive  form,  in- 
herited from  the  past,  or  a  dedication 
of  the  child  to  God  on  the  part  of  the 
parents.  They  believe,  in  the  words 
of  the  Westminster  Confession,  that  "by 
the  right  use  of  this  ordinance,  the  grace 
promised  is  not  only  offered,  but  really 
exhibited  and  conferred  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Those  who  thus  believe  in 
infant  baptism  hold,  or  should  hold, 
that  as  the  church  has  baptized  the 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     63 

children  she  is  in  duty  bound  to  teach 
them.  In  Christ's  command  teaching 
is  correlated  with  baptism,  and  the  church 
is  bound  to  recognize  the  connection 
between  them. 

The    second    question    relates    to    the 
best  method  of  making  Chris-   "Making 
tians.    That  it  is   a  question,   Chri»tian»" 
such  paragraphs  as  the  following  prove: 

A  Chicago  correspondent  writes  to  a 
certain  paper:  "A  very  prominent  di- 
vine told  me  a  few  days  ago:  "I  am 
compelled  to  leave  my  flock,  much  against 
my  wishes,  not  because  of  lack  of  appre- 
ciation or  sympathy  on  their  part,  but 
because  of  the  extreme  difficulty  I  find 
in  interesting  outsiders.' 

Henry  Drummond  speaks  of  the  rest- 
lessness that  characterizes  our  modern 
congregations.  "Like  the  Athenians  of 
old,  they  are  ever  seeking  after  some  new 
thing.  There  is  a  hunger  and  thirst 
among  the  people  for  some  new  sensation. 
Yet  withal  there  is  an  impotence  in  the 
pulpit  so  far  as  the  legitimate  results  of 
preaching  are  concerned. " 


64  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

In  our  own  city  pulpits  are  vacant, 
because  the  congregations  are  anxious 
to  find  some  great  preacher,  one  who  can 
fill  the  pews  and  assure  the  church 
treasurer  a  large  and  steady  income. 
For  every  vacant  pulpit  in  a  promi- 
nent church  there  are  scores  of  appli- 
cants who  are  willing  to  sacrifice  them- 
selves. And  very  often  they  do  sacrifice 
themselves.  A  few  years  later,  with 
broken  spirit,  they  retire  to  some  quiet 
place  where  they  may  rest  from  the  un- 
equal struggle. 

Our  present-day  forces  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world  and  the  edification 
of  the  church  are: 

First,  the  regular  preacher.  It  is  his 
business  to  be  an  attractive  writer  and 
speaker  so  as  to  be  able  to  hold  his  audi- 
ence. The  Tribune  recently  brought  the 
following  notice: 

"Next  Sunday  will  be  the  Rev.  Dr. 

's  last  appearance  (!)  for  some  time 

in  the  pulpit  of  the  -  Church." 

While  it  is  true  that  a  reporter  of  a  daily 
paper  does  not  always  appear  to  the 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     65 

best  advantage  in  his  use  of  ecclesiastical 
phraseology,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he 
is  quick  to  catch  the  popular  conception 
of  a  situation. 

Secondly,  the  evangelist,  for  special 
seasons  and  for  meetings  at  Carnegie 
Hall  and  other  places  untainted  by  the 
flavor  of  church  associations. 

Thirdly,  Sunday  -  school  teachers, 
upon  whom  a  large  part  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  religious  education  of  the 
young  rests. 

Would  that  family  training  might  be 
added  to  these  as  an  important  factor. 

Supplemental  to  these  forces  are  Young 
People's  Societies,  King's  Daughters  and 
the  like,  the  great  success  of  which  de- 
monstrates a  widespread  need. 

Each  of  these  forces  and  all  combined 
undoubtedly  have  a  most  important  place 
in  the  economy  of  the  church,  but  they 
cannot  take  the  place  of  the  catechu- 
menate. 

What  then  is  the  child  catechumenate  ? 
What  is  there  in  it  which  differentiates 
it  from  allied  institutions  and  methods  ? 


66  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

It  is  that  institution  of  Christ  and  the 
church  by  which  children  are  systemati- 
cally  taught    and    trained  in 

Definition 

such  a  way  as  to  prepare  them 
for  a  personal  participation  in  the  life 
and  privileges  of  the  Christian  church. 

That  it  is  an  institution  of  Christ,  is 
argued  from  the  word  T^QSIV,  "to  ob- 
serve," in  Christ's  last  command. 

Its  place  in  the  New  Testament  is  seen 
from  numerous  passages,  such  as  Gala- 
tians  6:6,  "Let  the  catechumen  commun- 
icate to  him  who  catechises  in  all  good 
things."  (Literal  translation.) 

It  involves  two  distinct  functions,  that 
of  teaching  and  that  of  training. 

It  has  a  definite  end,  that  of  making 
mature  Christians  out  of  incipient  be- 
lievers. 

It  pursues  a  systematic  method,  lead- 
ing step  by  step  to  the  comprehension 
of  that  which  has  been  revealed. 

And  finally,  it  is  an  institution  of  the 
church;  that  is,  the  Christian  church 
itself  supplies  the  organ  and  ministry 
by  which  the  work  is  carried  on. 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE      67 

My  plea  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Child  Catechumenate  I  shall  endeavor 
to  enforce  by  a  brief  reference,  1,  to  its 
principles,  and  2,  to  its  practice. 

1.  PRINCIPLES.  The  importance  of 
this  institution  rests  chiefly  upon  the 
duty  which  the  church  owes  to  the  chil- 
dren who  have  been  entrusted  to  its 
care.  We  acknowledge  the  claims  of 
the  heathen  whom  we  have  never  seen. 
But  here  are  the  little  ones  crowding  our 
doors  and  asking  for  admission  into  the 
kingdom.  Then  again  the  trustful  nature 
of  the  child  makes  it  an  unspeakable 
privilege  to  guide  and  an  easy  task  to 
convert  it.  While  we  recognize  in  them, 
too,  the  impress  of  the  fallen  nature, 
there  is  also  that  which  has  been  called 
the  anima  naturaliter  Christiana.  They 
Tespond  almost  intuitively  to  the  idea 
of  God  and  immortality.  The  five-year- 
old  brother  of  Klopstogk  was  found  in 
the  open  field  during  a  terrific  thunder 
storm,  and  when  asked  what  he  was  doing, 
he  replied, «."  I  am  praying  to  the  great 
God." 


68  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  church  is  the  mother  of  education. 
But  what  a  humiliating  position  we  take 
when  we  allow  secular  instruction  to  be 
given  in  the  most  scientific  and  effective 
manner,  while  the  subjects  of  highest  im- 
port are  entrusted  almost  wholly  to  in- 
expert hands. 

Again,  is  it  wise  to  postpone  the  mak- 
ing of  special  religious  impressions  to  a 
time  when  the  mind  and  heart  have 
become  preoccupied,  and  are  past  the 
time  when  the  germinal  purposes  of  life 
are  formed  ? 

These  statements  are  trite  and  almost 
self-evident,  and  yet  to  most  ministers 
everything  else  seems  to  be  of  greater  im- 
portance than  that  which  is  of  supreme 
importance  in  their  pastoral  relation, 
the  teaching  and  training  of  the  young. 

2.  THE  PRACTICE.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  if  you  wish  to  train  a  child 
properly,  you  must  begin  with  the  grand- 
parents. But,  it  is  added,  you  must  be- 
gin with  the  grandparents  when  they 
are  children.  The  importance  of  this 
principle  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE      69 

during  the  first  five  years,  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  in  the  development  of  the 
child,  the  church  can  influence  the  child 
but  very  little  except  through  its  parents. 
And  yet  it  is  of  this  age  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  said:  "Give  us  the 
children  for  the  first  six  years,  and  we 
care  not  who  gets  them  afterward." 

With  the  sixth  year,  the  child  begins 
to  enter  into  public  relation  with  the 
church  and  its  services,  and  the  minister 
must  be  prepared  to  meet  this  new 
relation. 

It  is  evident  that  in  order  to  do  this 
work  properly,  the  minister  must  be  a 
pedagogue;  that  is,  the  instruction  should 
be  such  as  to  be  intellectually  stimulating. 
But  its  chief  charm  and  power  is  derived 
from  the  pastoral  relation  which  the  in- 
structor holds,  and  which  should  make 
it  spiritually  quickening.  It  is  true  that 
not  every  minister  is  a  pedagogue.  But 
he  ought  to  be,  and  in  the  future,  as  in 
the  past,  pedagogical  skill  and  training 
will  be  considered  a  part  of  the  neces- 
sary outfit  of  every  minister. 


70  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

But  the  principal  value  of  the  catechu- 
menate  is  in  the  opportunity  it  affords  to 
train  the  child;  that  is,  to  accustom  it  to 
the  duties  and  practice  of  the  Christian 
_.  .  .  life.  Thus  it  should  early  be 

Training 

taught  to  go  to  church — at 
first  to  the  children's  services,  but  as 
soon  as  possible  to  the  great  congrega- 
tion. It  should  be  taught  the  words  of 
the  silent  prayer  when  entering  the 
house  of  God,  and  the  significance  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  service.  For  the 
purpose  of  bringing  up  attentive  hearers, 
a  report  of  the  sermon  should  be  required. 
The  habit  of  so  listening  to  a  sermon  as  to 
fix  its  chief  points  and  thoughts  in  the 
mind,  is  one  that  must  be  cultivated. 
If  you  do  not  believe  this,  ask  some  of 
your  children  next  week  to  tell  you  about 
the  sermon  which  they  last  heard. 

But  how  shall  we  get  the  children  to 
come  to  church?  Some  ministers  in- 
Church  vite  the  voluntary  attendants 

Attendance  of  the  Sunday-school  to  ex- 
ercise a  little  more  voluntariness  and 
come  to  church.  It  is  very  gratifying 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     71 

when  at  least  some  of  them  respond. 
Others  offer  a  reward  with  cheering  re- 
sults in  some  cases.  It  sometimes  pays 
to  be  good.  Nevertheless,  apart  from 
these  sporadic  results,  church  attendance 
on  the  part  of  children  is  not  as  common 
as  it  should  be. 

Are  not  we  Protestants  a  little  too  easy- 
going in  our  conceptions  of  discipline? 
Why  should  we  concede  everything  of 
this  character  to  the  Roman  Catholics  ? 
Might  not  a  little  wholesome  coercion 
be  exercised  by  us  as  well  as  by  them? 
Is  not  the  law  our  pedagogue  to  lead 
us  to  Christ?  In  explaining  the  law  of 
the  Sabbath,  even  so  good  a  Protestant 
as  Martin  Luther  said: 

"We  should  so  fear  and  love  God  as 
not  to  despise  His  word  and  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel,  but  deem  it  holy  and 
willingly  hear  and  learn  it." 

The  scope  of  the  Child  Catechumenate 
includes  church  attendance.  It  takes  this 
for  granted  and  does  not  ask  whether 
the  children  wish  to  go  or  not. 

But  while  children  of  all  ages  are  wel- 


72  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

come,  it  is  a  question  at  what  age  at- 
tendance should  be  expected  or  made 
obligatory.  Without  attempting  to  re- 
peat the  psychological  reasons,  I  venture 
to  indicate  the  age  of  nine  as  that  at 
which  children  may  follow  a  sermon  with 
intelligence,  and  take  part  in  the  service 
to  their  own  edification. 

If  children  are  expected  to  come  to 
church,  another  question  forces  itself 
Sermons  for  upon  us.  What  should  be 
Children  the  character  of  the  sermon? 
Some  ministers  preach  a  five-minute 
sermon  for  children  as  a  prelude  to  the 
regular  sermon.  A  similar  course  was 
recommended  by  Melanchthon  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Or  the  ordinary 
sermon  may  bear  the  children  in  mind, 
and  state  the  truth  in  such  a  way 
that  the  future  congregation  may  get 
some  benefit  from  it.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  they  should  understand  the  whole 
of  it,  to  make  it  effective  in  their  lives. 
A  sermon  is  not  simply  for  instruction, 
it  is  for  inspiration.  It  conveys  a  spirit- 
ual message,  and  for  receiving  this  mes- 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE      73 

sage  the  difference  between  the  little 
child  and  the  learned  professor  is  one 
only  of  degree  and  not  of  kind. 

In  Luther's  discourses  on  preaching, 
he  earnestly  insisted  that  the  message 
of  the  pulpit  should  be  directed  to  the 
great  mass  of  plain  people  and  of  chil- 
dren rather  than  to  the  few  learned  people 
who  might  be  present.  A  Governor  of 
Connecticut  once  came  to  his  pastor  and 
asked  him  to  tell  him  what  he  must  do 
to  be  a  Christian,  but,  "tell  me  just  as 
plainly  as  you  would  explain  it  to  a  little 
child,"  was  his  request. 

Besides,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
there  are  acts  of  worship  in  the  church, 
besides  the  sermon,  in  which  a  child  can 
participate  just  as  truly  as  an  adult 
person. 

A  means  of  emphasizing  and  carrying 
out  the  principles  of  Christian  training 
is  the  personal  interview  with   Under  Four 
the  catechumen.     They  called   Eye* 
it  private  confession  in  the   olden   time, 
but  you  may  call  it  by  any  other  name 
if  it  will  smell  sweeter.     The  essential 


74  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thing  about  it  is  to  accustom  the  child  to 
a  confidential  and  trusting  relation  to  its 
pastor  in  spiritual  matters.  The  sub- 
jects to  be  treated  are  the  habit  of  private 
prayer,  the  questions  of  Christian  con- 
duct in  its  relations  to  parents,  broth- 
ers and  sisters  and  other  children,  and 
especially  in  the  matter  of  penitence 
for  sin,  faith  in  a  personal  Saviour  and 
of  the  right  steps  in  the  new  life  of 
obedience. 

Those  of  you  who  have  never  tried 
this  method  would  be  amazed  at  the 
absence,  in  many  cases,  of  the  most 
fundamental  Christian  conceptions,  and 
that,  too,  among  those  where  one  took 
the  Christian  view  of  life  for  granted. 
The  theology  of  most  of  them  is,  "You 
must  be  good  if  you  want  to  get  to 
heaven. "  And,  "  you'must  keep  the  com- 
mandments if  you  want  to  be  saved. "  But 
when  in  such  pastoral  intercourse  it  be- 
comes your  privilege  to  unlock  the  heart 
to  the  gifts  of  the  Gospel,  what  hearers 
you  will  have  for  the  pulpit  message! 
You  look  down  into  eyes  that  respond 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE     75 

with  grateful  eagerness  to  every  word 
you  say. 

The  objection  will  be  raised  that  one 
cannot  find  time  for  so  much  additional 
work. 

A  wise  pastor  will  be  able  to  modify 
the  system  in  such  a  way  as  to  distribute 
the  work  among  many,  and  make  it 
easy  and  profitable  for  all.  We 

J  4.  4.      -J       £  £  Helpers 

need  to  get  rid  of  many  of  our 
hierarchical  notions  and  to  introduce  a 
larger  diaconate  into  our  church  work. 
Some  of  us  have  school  teachers  and 
teaching  deaconesses  who  can  be  en- 
trusted with  part  of  this  work.  But  in 
all  of  our  churches  there  are  men  and 
women  with  gifts  and  graces  that  would 
make  them  helpers  in  this  churchly 
work  of  bringing  the  little  ones  to  Christ 
and  training  them  up  for  His  service. 
Chief  among  these  are  the  parents  of  the 
children,  especially  so  far  as  home  life  and 
home  duties  are  concerned.  But  even  for 
the  week-day  hours  at  the  church,  there 
is  much  undeveloped  material  which 
could  be  utilized  for  such  work. 


76  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

And  what  better  opportunity  than  this 
could  be  found  for  bringing  into  practice 
Duties  of  those  duties  which  many  lit- 
Sponsors  urgies  prescribe  for  the  spon- 
sors, when  they  direct  the  minister  to 
exhort  those  who  have  presented  the 
child  for  baptism  in  the  following  words : 
"I  now  admonish  you  who  have  done 
so  charitable  a  work  to  this  child  in  its 
baptism,  that  ye  diligently  and  faith- 
fully teach  it  the  Ten  Commandments, 
that  thereby  it  may  learn  to  know  the 
will  of  God;  also  the  Christian  faith, 
set  forth  in  the  Creed,  whereby  we  obtain 
grace,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  likewise  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  that  it  may  call  upon  God,  and 
find  help  to  withstand  the  devil,  and  lead 
a  Christian  life,  till  God  shall  perfect 
that  which  He  hath  now  begun  in  it,  and 
bring  it  to  life  everlasting." 

The  point  to  emphasize  is  that  it  is 
a  systematic  work,  conducted  by  the 
church,  proceeding  from  certain  acknowl- 
edged premises  and  advancing  by  ap- 
proved methods  to  a  certain  end.  Or,  to 


THE  CHILD  CATECHUMENATE      77 

return  to  the  definition,  "It  is  an  in- 
stitution  of  Christ  and  the  church,  by 
which  children  are  systematically  taught 
and  trained  in  such  a  way  as  to  prepare 
them  for  a  personal  participation  in  the 
life  and  the  privileges  of  the  Christian 
church." 

With  the  restoration  of  this  institution 
in  a  practical  way  in  our  churches,  the 
Sunday-school  itself  would  assume  a  more 
natural  and  more  important  relation  to 
the  life  of  the  church.  The  Sunday- 
school  would  become  a  Children's  Service 
in  which  the  knowledge  gained  during 
the  week  would  be  fused  into  sweet 
experience  under  the  influence  of  warm- 
hearted Christian  teachers  and  superin- 
tendents. 

A  new  meaning  would  also  be  given 
to  the  instruction  for  admission  to  the 
communion.  It  would  be  a  simple  re- 
view of  subjects  with  which  the  children 
have  long  since  been  made  acquainted. 
The  nature  of  the  instruction  would  there- 
fore be  a  warm,  spiritual  presentation  of 
the  truths  of  the  catechism,  would  cover 


78  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

a  comparatively  brief  period  of  time,  and 
would  have  the  sole  purpose  of  preparing 
the  children  for  a  proper  participation 
in  the  privileges  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
It  would  be  a  revival  season  in  which 
others  than  the  children  would  be  glad 
to  take  part  because  of  the  stimulating 
and  quickening  influences  that  accom- 
pany such  a  course  of  instruction. 

It  would  prepare  the  way  for  "  Decision 
Day"  and  would  lay  a  good  foundation 
for  the  development  of  sterling  character. 


VIII 
A  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

HPHE  conditions  of  churches  are  so 
varied  that  no  attempt  can  be  made  to 
offer  a  plan  that  would  be  suitable  for 
all.  The  scheme  presented  on  page  80 
is  merely  a  suggestion.  It  indicates  some 
of  the  studies  that  may  profitably  be 
pursued. 

Our  classes  are  divided  as  follows: 
Infants,  5  to  7  years  of  age;  Primarians, 
8;  Juniors,  9  to  10;  Intermediates,  11; 
Preparatorians,  12;  Catechumens,  13  and 
over. 

All  the  children  are  invited  to  attend 
the  regular  church  service.  When  they 
are  nine  years  old,  they  are  required  to 
do  so.  A  report  of  last  Sunday's  sermon 
is  given,  oral  by  the  younger  children, 
written  by  the  older  ones.  This  is  a 
very  important  part  of  their  work.  The 
plan  has  proved  effective  in  training  up 

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A  COURSE  OF  STUDY  81 

attentive  and  appreciative  listeners.  The 
habit  once  formed  is  not  easily  lost. 

The  children  also  learn  the  parts  and 
the  significance  of  the  Church  Service, 
and  are  thus  prepared  to  take  part  in 
the  worship  in  an  intelligent  manner. 

To  this  scheme  might  well  be  added 
a  very  simple  course  in  Church  History, 
Christian  Biography  or  Missions.  There 
are  not  lacking  "hero  stories"  in  such  a 
course  which  would  appeal  mightily  to 
the  boys  in  the  older  classes. 

A  system  of  marking  and  giving  credit 
for  lessons  learned,  and  tasks  accom- 
plished, may  also  be  found  desirable  in 
some  cases. 

The  course  here  suggested  is  meagre 
indeed,  but  it  involves  constant  pro- 
gression, along  definite  lines,  for  nine 
years,  and  includes  subjects  of  such  "in- 
terest" that  neither  teacher  nor  pupil  can 
ever  grow  weary,  if  work  is  done  in  the 
right  spirit. 


IX 

THE  BIBLE  STORY 

A  POSTOLICAL  Christianity  was  built 
upon  the  Bible  story,  and  long  before 
there  was  a  Christian  canon,  the  narration 
of  the  facts  of  revelation  brought  men  into 
vital  relation  with  Christ  and  the  church. 
In  the  second  century,  beginning  with  A.  D. 
180,  the  Alexandrian  school  of  catechists, 
in  a  long  line  of  eminent  teachers,  faith- 
fully followed  the  Apostolical  method. 
Two  hundred  years  later  there  appeared 
the  most  important  contribution  to  the 
subject  in  Augustine's  tract  "  On  the  way 
in  which  ignorant  people  should  be  cate- 
chized," de  catechizandis  rudibus.  The 
Bible  story,  he  declared,  from  the  creation 
to  the  consummation,  must  be  the  material 
in  catechization.  But  through  some 
strange  perversity  of  history,  this  principle 
was  lost  sight  of  for  a  thousand  years. 
Although  the  Middle  Ages  produced  emi- 

82 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  83 

nent  pedagogues,  scholastics,  and  the 
Brethren  of  the  Com&on  Life,  and  in  later 
years  Gerson,  who  wrote  the  treatise  "  On 
bringing  the  little  ones  to  Christ,"  Chris- 
tian training  was  secured  by  other  means 
than  Bible  study.  The  plastic  repre- 
sentations of  the  Bible  story  as  given  in 
the  church  buildings,  and  the  poetical  re- 
productions of  the  story  of  salvation,  left 
the  people  not  altogether  ignorant  of 
Scripture.  But  repentance,  faith  and  the 
Christian  life  were  developed  and  main- 
tained largely  by  other  methods  than  the 
use  of  the  Bible.  The  Apostolical  and 
Augustinian  principle  was  restored  to  the 
church  as  one  of  the  results  of  the  Re- 
formation. Luther's  Small  Catechism, 
which  marks  an  epoch  in  catechetical 
literature,  is,  indeed,  a  dogmatic  treatise. 
But  Luther  also  gave  an  impulse  to  the 
popularization  of  the  Bible  by  his  collec- 
tion of  Bible  stories  called  the  Passional. 
He  also  expressed  the  hope  that  some  one 
would  arouse  the  interest  of  the  people 
by  making  pictures  for  the  collected 
stories  of  the  Bible.  The  suggestion  was 


84  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

followed  by  Fischart,  who  published  Bible 
pictures  and  verses,'  a  valuable  work  of 
art.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury Hartmann  Beyer,  the  Reformer  of 
Frankfurt,  published  the  first  real  Bible 
story  book  with  pictures,  an  undertaking 
which  the  Brunswick  theologian,  Justus 
Gesenius  imitated  on  a  larger  scale  a  cen- 
tury later.  It  had  special  reference  to 
instruction  in  schools.  For  high  schools, 
Melanchthon's  pupil,  Neander,  had  de- 
signed his  Historia  populiDei,  1582,  which 
aroused  great  interest.  Felicitous  crea- 
tions, with  the  same  end  in  view,  appeared 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury in  the  Sacred  Histories  of  Sagittar- 
ius, Castellio  and  Fabricius. 

In  France,  Fenelon  used  Bible  stories 
occasionally  as  an  aid  in  teaching  the 
catechism. 

In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury Cocceius,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
theologians  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  Bible  story  by 
his  doctrine  that  Revelation  has  a  history 
which  is  to  be  taught.  This  doctrine  was 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  85 

the  earliest  foundation  of  Biblical  Theol- 
ogy. His  idea  was  taken  up  by  the  Pie- 
tists and  thru  them  came  to  be  generally 
adopted  by  the  Lutherans.  Spener  and 
Francke  got  their  pupils  to  use  the  Bible 
itself,  and  in  the  institutions  at  Halle, 
Bible  History  was  a  distinct  subject  in 
the  course  of  study. 

Huebner's  Bible  Stories  appeared  in 
1714,  and  attained  such  widespread  pop- 
ularity that  he  has  often  been  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  the  Bible  story  method  of 
teaching.  But  his  way  of  telling  the  story, 
in  a  popular  version  rather  than  in  the 
language  of  Scriptures,  came  to  be  recog- 
nized as  faulty.  In  1830  Zahn's  Bible 
Stories  appeared  in  close  conformity  with 
the  language  of  the  Bible,  and  it  has  been 
the  norm  for  the  numerous  books  that 
have  followed  on  this  field.  The  use  of 
the  Bible  story  book  is  not  intended  to 
supplant  the  use  of  the  Bible  itself,  al- 
though for  many  years  it  did  so,  before 
the  Bible  Societies  made  it  possible  for 
every  one  to  have  a  copy.  It  is  intended 
as  a  means  of  helping  the  child  to  grasp 


86  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  Bible  narrative  in  its  entirety.  The 
principle  is  that  the  Bible  itself  is  the 
Divine  Revelation  which  must  lie  at  the 
basis  of  Christian  instruction. 

And  yet  this  principle  has  not  always 
been  recognized.  In  churches  where  the 
true  pedagogical  view  has  not  obtained,  a 
brief  period  of  dogmatic  instruction  still 
takes  the  place  of  systematic  and  com- 
prehensive Bible  study. 

In  non-catechetical  circles,  that  is, 
where  the  churches  are  built  up  by  means 
other  than  the  instruction  and  training 
of  the  baptized  children,  this  principle 
is  likewise  in  danger  of  being  neglected. 
They  object  to  the  entire  system  as 
appealing  too  largely  to  the  intellectual 
nature  and  not  to  the  heart,  and  it  is 
sometimes  regarded  as  a  mechanical 
method  of  making  Christians.  Occasion 
has  indeed  been  given  for  this  criticism. 
But  it  is  not  inherent  in  the  system. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Spener, 
the  father  of  modern  Pietism,  found  in 
it  the  most  potent  means  for  the  revival 
of  the  churches. 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  87 

Another  repudiation  of  this  principle 
is  found  in  those  rationalistic  systems 
which  substitute  natural  religion  for  Reve- 
lation and  which  direct  their  questions 
to  the  innate  ideas  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion. But  wherever  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation is  conceded,  the  method  of  in- 
struction in  its  fundamental  principles 
must  be  an  authoritative  presentation  of 
the  facts  from  the  sources. 

Recognizing  the  importance  of  this 
principle,  the  Christian  teachers  of  Ger- 
many have  during  the  last  half  century 
provided  a  literature  of  preeminent  value 
in  the  field  of  Bible  catechetics.  Philos- 
ophy, History  and  Art  have  contributed 
their  aid,  so  that  their  catechetical  ap- 
paratus is  rich  and  stimulating.  In  this 
country  there  are  encouraging  signs  of 
a  growing  interest  in  the  subject.  The 
value  of  Bible  study  as  a  means  to  a 
definite  end,  and  therefore  conducted 
in  a  scientific  and  systematic  manner,  is 
appreciated  and  understood  as  never 
before. 

The  first  principle  of  the  catechetical 


88  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

use  of  the  Bible  is  that  the  foundation 
Tell  of  Christian  instruction  is  laid 

the  story         by    fe#ingr    the    Bible  story. 

From  the  pedagogical  standpoint  this  is 
enforced  by  the  importance  assigned  to 
object  lessons  in  the  development  of 
ideas,  a  fact  that  was  first  popularized 
by  Pestalozzi,  but  had  already  been 
shown  by  Amos  Comenius,  a  century 
earlier.  Children  love  to  hear  stories, 
and  by  this  means  the  food  for  their 
thought  can  best  be  supplied. 

But  the  Christian  teacher  has  a  deeper 
reason  for  recognizing  this  principle. 
Christianity  entered  the  world  as  a  fact 
and  not  as  a  dogma.  It  was  the  facts 
of  the  Gospel,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles that  St.  Luke  related  to  his  friend 
Theophilus.  It  was  in  the  proclamation 
of  the  great  facts  of  redemption  that 
the  Apostles  gained  the  trophies  of  their 
missionary  journeys. 

In  the  statement  of  this  principle 
there  is  contained  also  the  first  rule  of 
the  method  which  the  teacher  of  the 
Bible  story  must  observe.  He  must  tell 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  89 

the  story.  He  produces  his  first  im- 
pression by  means  of  an  oral  narration. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  younger 
children  are  not  yet  able  to  read.  But 
there  is  also  a  psychological  reason.  The 
first  impression  which  the  child  receives 
of  the  Divine  Revelation  must  come 
with  the  authority  of  a  prophet's  utter- 
ance. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  the  earlier  classes 
to  devote  much  attention  to  moralization 
or  making  the  application.  The  sacred 
story  opens  the  mind  of  the  child  to  a 
wonderful  land  where  God  is,  and  the 
holy  angels,  and  in  this  realm  it  is  almost 
an  impertinence  for  men  to  intrude  with 
their  explanatory  remarks  and  their  par- 
anetic  exhortations.  In  the  older  classes ' 
there  is  room  for  homiletic  application,' 
but  not  so  much  in  the  younger  grades.  > 
Here  the  chief  object  is  to  impress  the 
fact,  and  to  make  it  the  permanent  pos- 
session of  the  soul-life  of  the  child.  The 
story  will  teach  its  own  truth  and  will 
produce  its  effect  in  the  life  and 
character. 


90  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  stories  have  a  primary  importance 
of  their  own,  and  are  not  given  for  the 
sake  of  the  dogmatic  or  ethical  lessons 
which  they  contain.  Christ  did  not  die 
on  the  cross  to  teach  us  courage  or  loyalty 
to  truth,  but  his  death  is  itself  the  great 
fact  upon  which  our  redemption  depends. 
He  did  not  rise  from  the  dead  in  order 
that  we  might  learn  lessons  of  immortality, 
but  his  resurrection  is  itself  the  great  act 
through  which  he  has  become  our  living 
Lord  and  Redeemer. 

The  material  for  this  instruction  con- 
sists of  a  selection  of  the  stories  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  sufficient  in 
number  to  be  mastered  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  Whether  the  Old  Testament  or 
the  New  precedes  is  a  mooted  point. 
But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  Christian 
homes  the  main  facts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment are  already  known,  and  because 
the  Old  Testament  is  a  preparation  for 
the  New  Testament,  many  teachers  favor 
the  Old  Testament. 

The  teacher  tells  the  story  as  simply 
as  he  can,  not  monotonously,  or  as  if  it 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  91 

were  a  recitation,  but  as  a  real  story,  and 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  language  and 
forms  of  the  Bible.  Only  such  explana- 
tions are  made  as  are  necessary  for  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  facts.  The 
story  is  then  repeated  without  any  ex- 
planations, and  the  children  are  given 
an  opportunity  to  reproduce  the  story. 
Or  this  part  of  the  lesson  may  be  re- 
quired at  the  next  hour.  But  it  is  im- 
portant to  tell  the  story  in  such  a  way 
that  it  may  be  reproduced  by  the 
children. 

Luther's  suggestion  that  pictures  should 
be  drawn   to   accompany  the   stories,   a 
suggestion   that    was   promptly 
accepted   in  his    own   day,  has 
been  universally  endorsed  in  our  times. 
Christian  artists  have  vied  with  each  other 
in  supplying  the  Bible  story  with  illus- 
trations. 

The  next  stage  of  instruction  is  reached 
when  the  child  is  able  to  read.  In  three 
different  forms  is  the  instruction  given: 
Reading,  Explanation  and  Application, 
Committing  to  Memory. 


92  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

In  the  Roman  Catholic  system  it  is 
not  necessary  for  the  people  to  read  the 
Bible.  The  priest  is  the  me- 
diator and  source  of  authority. 
But  in  the  Protestant  system  it  is  necessary 
to  lead  the  believer  to  the  sources  of  re- 
ligion, from  which  he  may  draw  with  in- 
dependent judgment  the  teachings  that 
are  to  control  his  life.  Where  there  are 
parochial  schools  it  is  easy  to  read  the 
Bible  in  course.  Where  these  do  not  ex- 
ist, the  class  instruction  must  be  supple- 
mented by  means  of  a  course  of  home 
readings. 

While  in  one  sense  it  is  true  that  the 
Scripture  is  its  own  interpreter,  and  the 
Explanation  Apostles  did  not  find  it  neces- 
Appifcation  sary  to  send  commentaries 
along  with  their  epistles,  the  question  is 
still  in  order :  "  TJnderstandest  thou  what 
thou  readest?"  And  the  answer  is  still: 
"How  can  I,  except  some  man  guide 
me  ?"  It  is  an  art  that  must  be  learned, 
to  read  the  Bible  understandingly.  The 
object  of  catechisation  is  not  merely  to 
study  the  Bible,  but  to  show  how  it 


THE  BIBLE  STORY  93 

should  be  studied,  and  to  accustom  the 
mind  to  the  proper  method. 

The  study  of  the  Bible  is  in  two  di- 
rections. First,  we  must  understand  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  in  their  objectivity, 
the  facts,  persons,  lands,  language  and 
ideas.  Secondly,  we  must  understand 
them  in  relation  to  our  own  hearts.  We 
must  teach  the  children  to  experience 
the  truth  of  the  Bible  story  in  their  own 
lives.  For  this  task — the  catechisation 
of  a  class  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the 
Bible  story  clear  in  its  meaning,  without 
and  within — preparation  is  needed.  It 
is  harder  than  preaching.  In  preaching 
there  is  no  one  to  interrupt,  and  the  line 
of  thought  can  be  followed  to  the  end. 
But  in  catechisation,  the  questions  and 
answers  of  the  children  may  at  any  mo- 
ment throw  the  teacher  off  the  track 
and  hinder  him  from  attaining  the  result 
at  which  he  is  aiming.  For  this  reason 
it  is  well  to  have  the  questions  written 
out,  so  that  the  teacher  may  maintain  his 
theme  and  follow  his  aim  in  an  undevia- 
ting  course. 


94  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

A  valuable  help  in  catechisation  is  the 
text-book,  containing  the  seed-texts  of 
the  Bible,  which  must  be  committed  to 
memory  during  the  school  curriculum. 
The  Wurttemberg  Text  Book  has  the 
following  divisions:  Texts  which  teach: 
1.  What  to  believe.  2.  How  to  live. 
3.  How  to  suffer.  4.  How  to  die.  My 
pastoral  work  sometimes  brings  me  into 
contact  with  aged  people  who  learned 
these  texts  in  Germany  when  they  were 
young,  and  who  are  now  proving  their 
value  when  all  things  else  are  taken  away. 


THE  CATECHISM 

A  CATECHISM  is  popularly  supposed 
-**  to  be  a  religious  manual  consisting  of 
questions  and  answers.  It  is  associated 
in  many  minds  with  some  of  the  difficult 
and  unwelcome  tasks  of  childhood.  But 
the  form  of  question  and  answer  is  only 
an  accident  of  modern  times.  In  early 
Christian  usage  the  catechism  meant 
religious  instruction  to  candidates  for 
admission  to  the  Christian  church.  It 
included  preaching  or  any  other  method 
of  imparting  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
The  foundation  of  Christian  knowledge 
is  the  Bible.  From  the  Bible  the  church 
has  gleaned  her  doctrines  and  set  them 
in  order  in  doctrinal  form  for  the  in- 
struction of  her  children.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  church  to  see  to  it  that  her  members 
are  made  acquainted  with  these  teach- 
ings. Only  it  must  always  be  borne 

95 


96  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

in  mind  that  instruction  is  not  merely 
for  the  intellect,  but  chiefly  for  the  heart 
and  the  will. 

As  this  is  not  a  manual  of  Pastoral 
Theology,  the  purpose  of  this  chapter 
will  be  met  by  a  brief  exposition  of  the 
material  and  the  form  of  the  catechism 
in  its  relation  to  the  Christian  school. 

1.  MATERIAL.  An  ancient  name  for 
the  catechism  was  "  The  Threefold  Cord." 
By  this  was  meant  the  Law  of  God,  the 
Gospel,  and  the  New  Life.  The  first 
was  taught  thru  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, the  second  thru  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  the  third  thru  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  These  formed  the  great  pillars, 
as  it  were,  on  which  and  around  which 
the  catechism  was  constructed,  and  the 
idea  has  been  a  controlling  one  in  many 
of  the  leading  churches. 

In  the  younger  classes,  religious  ideas 
are  best  communicated  thru  the  Bible 
story.  From  this  ever  fresh  and  fruitful 
garden  are  gathered  the  fruits  upon  which 
the  spiritual  life  must  feed.  But  the 
older  children,  who  are  preparing  for 


THE  CATECHISM  97 

the  fuller  obligations  of  church  member- 
ship, need  instruction  also  not  only  in 
the  doctrines  that  are  common  to  the 
whole  church,  but  also  in  those  which 
are  peculiar  to  their  own  denomination. 

For  this  purpose  the  churches  have 
constructed  their  catechisms.  Thus  we 
have  Luther's  Catechism,  the  Heidelberg, 
the  Westminster,  the  Tridentine,  etc. 
Some  of  these  have  lived  for  centuries, 
and  in  spite  of  intellectual  and  moral 
revolutions  continue  to  assert  themselves 
as  living  forces  in  the  world. 

As  books  of  reference,  statements  of 
doctrine,  dictionaries  of  information,  rec- 
ords of  history,  they  have  a  permanent 
value.  To  what  extent  they  are  adapted 
for  the  instruction  of  children,  is  another 
question. 

2.  FORM.  The  catechisms  with  which 
most  of  us  are  familiar  consist  of  ques- 
tions and  answers.  They  follow  the 
synthetic  method,  starting  from  general 
principles.  The  answers  are  not  neces- 
sarily contained  in  the  question,  but  are 
a  body  of  information  which  has  to  be 


98  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

committed   to   memory   in    order   to   be 
recited  by  the  child. 

The  following  questions  and  answers, 
selected  at  random  from  the  church 
catechisms  of  four  denominations,  illus- 
trate their  character: 

Why  must  our  Redeemer  be  both  God  and  Man  ? 

Our  Redeemer  must  be  man  in  order  that,  by  His 
obedience  and  His  suffering  in  our  nature  and  in  our 
stead,  He  might  redeem  us  from  sin ;  and  He  must  be 
God  in  order  that  His  redemption  may  be  all-sufficient. 

What  is  Justifying  Faith  ? 

Justifying  faith  is  a  saving  grace,  wrought  in  the 
heart  of  a  sinner,  by  the  Spirit  and  word  of  God ;  where- 
by he,  being  convinced  of  his  sin  and  misery,  and  of 
the  disability  in  himself  and  all  other  creatures  to 
recover  him  out  of  his  lost  condition,  not  only  assenteth 
to  the  truth  of  the  promise  of  the  gospel,  but  receiveth 
and  resteth  upon  Christ  and  His  righteousness  therein 
held  forth,  for  pardon  of  sin,  and  for  the  accepting  and 
accounting  of  his  person  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God 
for  salvation. 

What  is  required  of  those  who  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  ? 

To  examine  themselves  whether  they  repent  them 
truly  of  their  former  sins,  steadfastly  purposing  to  lead 
a  new  life;  have  a  lively  faith  in  God's  mercy  through 
Christ,  with  a  thankful  remembrance  of  His  death; 
and  be  in  charity  with  all  men. 

What  do  you  desire  of  God  in  this  Prayer  ? 

1.  That  all  things  which  tend  to  the  glory  of  God 
may  be  promoted,  and  whatsoever  is  repugnant  thereto, 


THE  CATECHISM  99 

or  contrary  to  His  will,  may  be  prevensed.  2.  That  He 
may  provide  me  with  all  things  necessary  for  the  body, 
and  as  to  my  soul,  preserve  me  from  all  evil  which 
might  in  any  wise  be  detrimental  to  my  salvation. 

This  method  is  an  unnatural  way  of 
acquiring  knowledge.  We  would  not 
teach  Chemistry  or  Mathematics,  not 
even  History  or  Biography  by  this  method. 

Again  it  has  no  religious  quality.  The 
child  may  believe  the  statement,  or  as 
much  of  it  as  it  can  remember,  upon  the 
authority  of  the  teacher.  Sometime  or 
other,  perhaps,  the  statement  will  be 
verified  in  its  own  experience.  The  cate- 
chism will  then  get  the  credit  for  it.  But 
until  then,and  in  many  cases  permanently, 
the  information  is  "an  undigested  se- 
curity" 

The  modern  way  of  teaching  the  cate- 
chism follows  the  analytic  method,  a 
method  pursued  by  both  the  great  cate- 
chisms of  the  German  Reformation,  but 
which  was  subsequently  set  aside,  only 
to  be  restored  again  as  a  result  of  the 
great  educational  revolution  of  the  18th 
century. 

The   following  page   from   a   modern 


100          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

catechism*  will  illustrate  my  meaning 
better  than  a  lengthy  description: 

The  topic  is  the  first  article  of  the 
Creed.  After  a  preliminary  lesson  the 
teacher  proceeds  to  explain  the  words: 
I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty. 

"I  believe  in  God."  This  does  not 
mean,  I  believe  that  there  is  a  God. 
If  we  have  any  religion  at  all,  we 
believe  that  there  is  a  God.  But  when 
I  say  I  believe  in  God,  I  mean  some- 
thing more  than  that.  What  that  is 
we  may  learn  from  the  centurion  of 
Capernaum.  He  was  a  man  who  believed 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  With  what 
words  did  Jesus  commend  his  faith? 
(Verily  I  say  unto  you,  etc.)  He  was  a 
humble-minded  man.  How  does  that 
appear?  (He  said:  I  am  not  worthy, 
etc.)  But  he  had  a  high  opinion  of 
Jesus.  From  what  do  we  learn  this? 
(He  said:  "Only  say  the  word"  etc.) 
What  disposition  did  he  show?  (He 
showed  trust.)  How  then  did  he  show 

*Der  kleine  Katechismus  Dr.  M.  Luthers  in  ausgef  Cihrten 
Katechesen,  von  Johannes  Kolb,  Breslau,  1892. 


THE  CATECHISM. 


that  he  believed  in  Jesus?  (By  trusting 
in  the  Lord  that  he  could  heal  his  servant 
with  a  word.)  But  the  centurion  proved 
in  another  way  that  he  had  faith.  What 
did  he  say  in  conclusion  to  the  centurion  ? 
(Go  thy  way,  etc.)  Go  thy  way,  said 
the  Lord  Jesus.  What  did  the  centurion 
do  then?  (He  went  his  way.)  Some 
might  have  hesitated  and  asked:  "Is 
it  certain  that  my  servant  is  healed? 
Can  I  assuredly  rely  upon  it?"  How 
did  the  centurion  show  that  he  believed? 
(He  showed  it  by  going.)  Yes,  he  was 
obedient  to  the  Lord's  command.  There 
were  two  things  therefore  which  showed 
that  the  centurion  believed.  What  were 
they?  (He  had  trust  in  the  Lord, 
and  he  did  what  he  was  told  to  do.) 
Can  you  give  me  the  name  of  a  man  of 
faith  in  the  Old  Testament?  (Abraham.) 
In  what  way  did  he  show  that  he  be- 
lieved in  God?  (He  went  out  of  his 
country  and  from  his  father's  house. 
And  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  his  son 
Isaac.)  He  did  therefore  what  God 
commanded.  Neither  of  these  things 


EDUCATION 


was  an  easy  task.  Why  did  he  never- 
theless obey  the  command  although  it  must 
have  been  hard  for  him  to  do  so?  (Be- 
cause he  trusted  in  God,  that  God  would 
not  tell  him  to  do  anything  that  was  not 
good.)  We  see  therefore  that  in  Abraham 
also  faith  shows  itself  by  trust  and 
obedience. 

"What  is  faith  ?"  asked  an  unbeliev- 
ing physician  of  his  friend,  a  merchant, 
in  whose  comfortable  parlor  the  two 
were  engaged  in  friendly  conversation. 
He  asked  the  question  in  the  same  spirit 
in  which  Pilate  said:  "What  is  truth?" 
The  merchant  smiled  and  called  to  his 
eight  year  old  son  who  was  sitting  at  an- 
other table.  He  had  been  laboriously 
unpacking  a  box  of  tin  soldiers  and  was 
making  them  march  up  and  down  and 
was  having  a  fine  time.  "Karl,"  said 
the  father  to  the  child,  who  found  it  hard 
to  separate  himself  from  his  soldiers, 
"my  dear  boy,  pack  up  your  soldiers  as 
quickly  as  you  can,  and  go  to  bed.  I 
think  it  is  better  that  you  should  do  so. 
But  do  it  quickly."  The  child  gave  his 


THE  CATECHISM  103 

father  a  long,  beseeching  look,  but  seeing 
that  the  father  was  determined,  he  pressed 
back  a  tear,  said  not  a  word,  gave  his 
father  a  long,  warm  kiss,  and  hurried 
away.  "There  Doctor,  that  is  faith," 
said  the  merchant.  Then  he  called  the 
boy  back  and  whispered  into  his  ear: 
"And  when  you  bring  me  another  such 
good  certificate  from  school  as  the  last 
one  was,  when  vacation  comes,  I  will 
take  you  with  me  to  visit  your  aunt  in 
Hamburg."  The  boy  shouted  for  joy, 
and  for  a  long  time  they  still  heard  from 
his  bedroom  his  jubilant  cries.  But  the 
father  said  to  his  friend :  "  There,  Doctor, 
that  was  faith.  That  boy  has  the  stuff 
in  him  to  be  a  man  of  faith.  If  he  acts 
toward  God  as  he  acted  toward  me,  as 
trustfully  and  as  obediently,  he  will  have 
faith."  The  Doctor  with  a  serious  look 
replied:  "I  think  I  understand  the  mat- 
ter better  now  than  I  would  have  done 
from  a  sermon." 

How  then  can  we  show  that  we  have 
faith  in  God?  (By  trusting  in  Him  and 
by  being  obedient  to  Him.) 


104          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  principles  which  govern  such  cate- 
chisation  are  explained  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  Kolbe's  excellent  Catechisation, 
and  are  briefly  as  follows: 

1.  The  catechism  explains  itself.  Noth- 
ing has  to  be  committed  to  memory  ex- 
cept the  text  of  Luther's  Catechism  and 
the  proof  texts  of  the  Bible. 

2.  The  instruction  must  be  intuitive. 
Much    instruction    in    the    catechism    is 
anything    but    intuitive.     The    children 
are  tortured  with  unintelligible  sentences, 
abstract   ideas   and   long   sentences   that 
have  to  be  committed  to  memory.     Such 
teaching  gives  no  pleasure  to  the  teacher 
and  bears  no  fruit  in  the  scholar.     In- 
struction is  made  intuitive  by  the  free 
use  of  the  Bible  story.     Illustrations  from 
life  and  literature  will  occur  to  the  teacher, 
and  will  help  to  illuminate  the  subject. 

3.  The  children  must  do  independent 
work.     The  questions  must  be  of  such 
a  character  that  the  child  is  compelled 
to  think  in  order  to  give  the  answer. 

4.  Every  lesson  must  produce  a  defi- 
nite,   comprehensible    result.     The    ex- 


THE  CATECHISM  105 

amination  at  the  close,  and  the  review  at 
the  next  hour  must  show  that  the  children 
have  mastered  the  lesson,  not  because 
they  have  committed  it  to  memory,  but 
because  it  has  become  their  intellectual 
property.  For  example:  The  centurion 
showed  in  two  ways  that  he  believed  in 
Jesus.  What  were  they?  Show  that 
Abraham  believed  in  God.  How  may  we 
show  that  we  believe  in  God  ? 

This  is  the  modern  way  of  teaching 
the  catechism.  It  is  so  simple,  it  teaches 
itself,  but  it  is  so  effective  that  it  will 
never  be  forgotten.  It  has  become  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  possession  of 
the  child.  The  painful  acquisition  of 
hundreds  of  unmeaning  phrases  is  done 
away  with.  The  catechism  has  become 
a  beautiful  garden  instead  of  a  wearisome 
desert.  We  call  it  the  modern  way  but 
in  reality  it  is  a  very  old  way.  In  follow- 
ing it,  we  are  only  returning  to  the  methods 
of  Francke  and  Comenius,  and  Luther 
and  Gerson  and  Augustine,  perhaps  even, 
yes  probably,  to  the  methods  of  the 
Apostolic  age. 


XI 
THE  GOAL 

TN  Christian  writings  of  the  fourth 
century  we  find  an  expression  that  is 
foreign  to  our  modern  phraseology.  They 
speak  of  "making  Christians,"  (Xgi- 
onavovq  noidv).  It  contains  a  suggestion 
worth  noting. 

Some  look  upon  children  as  Christians 
by  right  of  inheritance;  others,  by  right 
of  baptism.  But  whatever  our  theories 
may  be,  the  object  of  all  of  us  is  so  to 
teach  and  bring  up  the  children  that  they 
may  become  mature  Christians,  Chris- 
tians by  personal  conviction  and  experi- 
ence. Or,  as  has  repeatedly  been  urged 
in  these  pages,  our  object  is  to  prepare 
them  for  participation  in  the  obligations 
and  privileges  of  the  Christian  church. 
If  the  church  were  merely  an  insti- 
tution, into  which  our  children  are  in- 
troduced through  the  family  and  the 

106 


THE  GOAL  107 

Christian  school  by  the  methods  that 
have  been  pointed  out,  our  work  would 
be  finished  when  we  had  made  them 
acquainted  with  certain  facts  and  ac- 
customed them  to  certain  rites  and 
practices  observed  in  the  church. 

But  the  church  is  more  than  an  in- 
stitution, it  is  a  society  or  fellowship,  it  is 
"the  communion  of  saints."  To  bring 
the  child  into  living  relation  with  this 
communion  must  be  the  object  of  all 
our  efforts.  The  family  will  be  broken 
up.  The  school  advances  its  pupils  to 
the  point  of  graduation.  But  the  church 
abides  forever.  It  is  the  only  society 
of  this  world  that  continues  into  the 
life  that  lies  beyond. 

Even  when  we  look  upon  the  child  as 
an  incipient  Christian,  the  object  of 
our  instruction  must  be  to  enable  it, 
when  it  leaves  school,  to  grow  up  in- 
dependently in  the  Christian  life. 

The  last  year  of  the  Christian  school, 
the  catechumenate  proper,  is  therefore  a 
time  when  our  care  of  souls  must  in- 
clude what  in  the  early  history  of  the 


108          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

church  was  called  the  scrutiny.  The 
personal  relation  between  pastor  and 
child  has  an  increasing  importance.  It 
has  in  view  that  impressive  period  in 
life  when  the  great  decision  is  made. 

Some  churches  observe  Confirmation. 

The   early   Lutherans   did   not   approve 

of  it,  but  admitted  candidates 

Confirmation  . 

to  the  communion  through 
"the  catechism"  at  any  convenient  season. 
In  spite  of  the  many  abuses  which  have 
attached  themselves  to  the  modern  usage, 
it  can  still  be  made  useful  if  proper  in- 
struction and  scrutiny  precede. 

Other  churches  have  introduced  De- 
cision Day.  Whatever  form  or  name 
Decision  may  be  chosen,  it  is  well  to 
Day  recognize  that  this  is  a  period 

when  a  definite  choice  of  the  Christian 
life  may  be  made. 

What  then  are  the  essential  elements 

of  the  Christian  life  which  a  pastor  will 

seek  to   discover  in  his  pupils? 

Faith  . 

First  of  all  is  the  acceptance 
of  Christ  as  the  Saviour.  Christ  must 
be  apprehended  as  the  One  "who  has 


THE  GOAL  109 

redeemed  me  from  all  sins,  from  death, 
and  from  the  power  of  the  devil,  not  with 
gold  or  silver,  but  with  His  holy,  precious 
blood,  and  with  His  innocent  sufferings 
and  death,  in  order  that  I  might  be  His 
own^  live  under  Him  in  His  kingdom  and 
serve  Him  in  everlasting  righteousness, 
innocence  and  blessedness." 

Another  element  is  jyrayer.     Through 
Christ   we    may    believe    that    God    "is 
truly  our  Father,   and  we    are 
truly  His  children,    so  that  we 
may  ask   of  Him  with   all   cheerfulness 
and  confidence,  as  dear  children  of  their 
dear  father." 

Formal  acts  of  prayer,  on  waking  and 
rising  in  the  morning,  on  retiring  at  night, 
at  meals,  on  entering  and  leaving  the 
house  of  God,  all  these  have  their  uses 
in  the  development  of  the  Christian  life. 
But  prayer  is  more  than  an  act.  It  is 
a  habit.  It  is  the  atmosphere  in  which 
the  child  of  God  continually  lives. 

A  third  element  is  obedience.  The 
Christian  necessarily  conforms  his  life 
with  the  life  which  he  has  from  Christ. 


110          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  Christ  for  us  becomes  the  Christ 
The  Mystical  in  us.  Some  theologians  call 
Union  it  "  the  mystical  union."  This 

involves  on  the  one  hand  the  daily  con- 
test against  sin  in  its  manifold  forms, 
the  daily  "drowning  of  the  old  Adam  in 
us."  On  the  other  hand,  it  calls  forth 
the  active  service  in  the  work  of  the  King, 
the  development  of  the  life  in  which 
Christ  is  supreme. 

In  this  new  life  the  agent  is  the  Holy 
Ghost;  the  means  is  the  word  of  God; 
the  relation  is  the  Holy  Church  universal, 
the  communion  of  saints;  the  final  goal 
is  the  life  everlasting. 


XII 

A  SOLUTION 

IV/TY  theme  may  seem  to  involve  only 
a  question  of  method,  the  use  of  a 
week-day  hour  in  place  of  or  in  addition  to 
a  Sunday  hour.  But  it  means  far  more. 
It  illustrates  and  enforces  a  principle. 
The  church  must  recognize  its  relation 
to  the  child  in  all  stages  of  its  growing 
life,  assume  its  proper  function  of  reli- 
gious instruction,  and  resist  the  ever- 
recurring  temptation  to  delegate  this 
function  to  any  other  agency. 

The  question  is  being  discussed  from 
many  points  of  view.  Teachers,  minis- 
ters and  the  press  are  on  the  Three  incon- 

n      i     i  .         troverbble 

alert  to  find  the  way  out  of  its  Positions 
difficulties.  Three  incontrovertible  posi- 
tions face  us.  Religion  is  a  vital  factor 
in  education;  the  church  cannot  form  an 
alliance  with  the  state  in  the  matter  of 
religion;  the  church  must  exercise  her 
in 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


legitimate  function  in  religious  education. 
Three  solutions  of  the  question  have 
been    offered:     Religion    in    the    public 
school,  the  parochial  school,   £lv?  Us_ 

r  Wednesday 

the  Sunday-school.  None  of  Afternoon 
these  meet  the  requirements.  In  their 
place  is  presented  a  simple,  practical 
proposition.  Let  the  public  school  re- 
store to  the  church  a  portion  of  the  time 
which  has  been  surrendered.  Give  us 
Wednesday  afternoon  for  instructing 
the  children  who  will  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity. 

In  support  of  this  plea  we  appeal  to  the 
public  school.  You  owe  your  existence 
to  the  Christian  week-day  school.  Your 
best  friends  and  co-workers  are  to  be 
found  in  our  churches.  All  we  ask  is  that 
you  so  arrange  your  course  of  studies  as 
not  to  prevent  us  from  giving,  at  our 
own  expense,  the  instruction  which  we 
believe  to  be  indispensable  to  all  true 
education. 

But  we  appeal  also  to  the  churches, 
and  especially  to  the  ministry.  This 
scheme  throws  upon  you  a  very  great 


A  SOLUTION  113 

task  and  a  large  responsibility.  And 
you  already  have  so  many  other  things 
to  do.  But  it  is  certain  that  nothing 
else  that  you  can  do  will  compare  in 
permanence  and  value  with  your  work 
in  the  Christian  training  of  your  children. 

Roman  Catholic  bishops  tell  us  that 
without  schools  they  would  soon  be 
without  churches.  Protestants  will  not 
be  without  churches,  but  they  will  have 
stronger  congregations,  more  apprecia- 
tive people  and  more  effective  churches, 
when  they  take  the  same  care  of  their 
children  as  do  the  Roman  Catholics. 

Commissioner  Harris  says:  "The  pre- 
rogative of  religious  instruction  is  in  the 
church,  and  it  must  remain  in  the  church, 
and  in  the  nature  of  things  it  cannot  be 
farmed  out  to  the  secular  school  without 
degenerating  into  mere  deism  bereft  of  a 
living  Providence,  or  else  changing  the 
school  into  a  parochial  school  and  destroy- 
ing the  efficiency  of  secular  instruction." 
— Educational  Magazine,  1902. 

Professor  Coe  says :  "  If  we  are  to  have 
common  schools  for  the  whole  people 


114          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

complete  separation  of  church  and  state, 
and  yet  thoro  religious  education  for 
Catholic  and  Protestant  children  alike, 
it  follows  that  the  religious  function  of  the 
state  schools  should  be  permanently  re- 
stricted to  friendly  recognition  of  the 
teaching  function  of  the  family  and  of 
the  church,  and  sympathetic  co-opera- 
tion with  them.  *  *  *  But  this  im- 
plies that  these  communions  voluntarily 
furnish,  at  their  own  expense,  definite 
and  systematic  religious  training  for  their 
children  and  for  all  children  who  can 
be  reached. "  —Religion  and  Morals. 

Bishop  Greer  says:  "The  schools  are 
doing  their  part,  in  their  legitimate  sphere, 
and  are  doing  all  they  can  do.  Is  the 
church  doing  her  part  in  her  legitimate 
sphere,  and  all  that  she  can  do?  It 
seems  to  me  she  is  not;  and  that  with 
no  other  machinery  or  instruments  or 
tools  than  what  she  now  possesses  she 
might  do  very  much  more  than  what  she 
now  is  doing. " — Convention  Address,  1905. 

To  all  of  these  significant  utterances  of 
representative  men  I  make  this  one  reply, 


A  SOLUTION  115 

Give  us  Wednesday  afternoon.  Will  not 
this  simple  concession  on  the  part  of  the 
public  school,  and  this  one  step  forward 
on  the  part  of  the  churches,  once  for  all 
solve  our  problem  ?  To  the  public  school 
we  shall  then  be  able  to  give  our  unquali- 
fied support,  and  in  return  utilize  its  vast 
resources.  And  the  work  of  the  Sunday 
school,  correlated  with  that  of  the  week- 
day church  school,  will  acquire  a  greater 
significance.  With  a  nine  years'  course 
of  systematic  instruction  for  all  the  chil- 
dren of  our  churches,  in  many  cases  with 
expert  helpers,  we  may  hope  to  attain  re- 
sults that  were  impossible  under  the 
haphazard  methods  of  the  past. 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS 

ANOTHER  "THREE  R'S"  IN  SCHOOL. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  coincidence  that  just 
as  the  dominant  party  in  British  politics 
is  moving  for  the  elimination  of  ecclesi- 
asticism  and  the  advance  of  secularism  in 
the  common  schools  of  England  a  strong 
interdenominational  movement  should  be 
developed  here  for  the  introduction  of 
religious  teaching  into  the  public  schools 
of  New  York.  We  cannot  ignore  the 
authority  nor  doubt  the  sincerity  and 
benevolence  of  the  company  of  clergymen 
who  the  other  day  discussed  this  subject, 
and  expressed  themselves  strongly  in 
favor  of  having,  by  state  enactment,  one 
afternoon  a  week  set  apart  for  religious 
instruction  in  the  schools.*  Those  gen- 
tlemen were  widely  representative  of  Jew 
and  Gentile,  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
Episcopal  and  Independent,  and  we  have 

*  These  benevolent  clergymen  proposed  nothing  of  the  kind. 

119 


120          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

no  doubt  that  they  represent,  too,  a  con- 
siderable and  most  respectable  public 
sentiment.  There  are  many  thoughtful 
men  and  women  who  regard  with  appre- 
hension the  widely  prevailing  and,  they 
fear,  increasing  irreverence,  lawlessness 
and,  indeed,  actual  viciousness  among 
school  children,  and  not  a  few  of  these 
are  inclined  to  seek  a  remedy  in  the  in- 
troduction of  religious  teaching.  As  one 
of  the  members  of  that  conference  neatly 
expressed  it,  there  seems  to  them  a  need 
that  the  schools  shall  teach  not  only  the 
old  "three  R's"  of  reading,  'riting  and 
Arithmetic,  but  also  the  other  three  of 
reverence,  righteousness  and  responsi- 
bility. 

There  will  be  little  dispute,  we  think, 
as  to  the  desirability  of  that  end.  The 
question  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  it  is 
to  be  attained.  That  the  boys — and 
girls,  too — of  to-day  are  too  often  irrev- 
erent in  speech  and  manner,  regardless  of 
the  comforts  and  rights  of  others,  and 
insubordinate  against  legitimate  authority 
is  painfully  apparent.  We  do  not  refer 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          121 

alone  to  such  young  Hooligans  as  were 
arrested  last  week  and  punished  for  crimi- 
nal rowdyism  in  elevated  railroad  trains, 
though,  indeed,  they  and  many  more  like 
them  are  students  in  the  public  schools. 
But  upon  the  better  class  residence  streets 
and  in  the  parks  may  be  found  boys  be- 
longing to  well  to  do  and  cultivated 
families  who  in  their  games  scream  out 
all  manner  of  profanities,  exult  in  annoy- 
ing passersby  and  exhibit  defiance  toward 
law  and  order.  Granted  that  much  of 
this  is  pure  thoughtlessness.  Thoughtless 
habit  uncorrected  often  becomes  fixed  and 
incorrigible.  It  is  not  creditable  that 
children  should  be  permitted,  even  thought- 
lessly, to  commit  such  excesses.  It  is  not 
possible  to  view  without  grave  concern 
the  possibility  that  such  habits  will  endure 
in  maturer  life. 

Home  influences  and  parental  discipline 
should  no  doubt  correct  the  evil.  But 
they  do  not,  and  we  are  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  in  many  cases  those  are  negli- 
gible factors,  if  not  actually  infinitesimal. 
Parents,  for  the  sake  of  their  own  comfort, 


122          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

object  to  their  children  playing  the  Hooli- 
gan in  their  own  dooryards,  but  let  them 
go  down  the  street  and  annoy  other  people 
without  hindrance  or  reproof,  while  for  an 
outraged  neighbor  to  undertake  the  work 
of  correction  or  even  to  complain  of  the 
nuisance  is  imperiously  resented  in  the 
tone  of  "My  child  can  do  no  wrong!" 
Nor  are  there  lacking  those  among  other- 
wise intelligent  and  reasonable  men  and 
women  who  practically  disclaim  respon- 
sibility for  their  children's  conduct.  They 
send  them,  they  say,  to  school  five  days 
a  week  and  to  Sunday-school  on  Sunday, 
and  it  is  the  business  of  those  institutions 
to  teach  them  everything.  Why  should 
they  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
schools  if  the  father  must  stay  home  from 
the  races  or  the  club  and  the  mother  from 
the  matinee  or  the  bridge  party  to  teach 
their  children  themselves  ? 

Despite  the  need,  however,  there  will  be 
a  widespread  doubt  of  the  wisdom  of 
seeking  to  supply  it  in  the  way  these 
clergymen  have  suggested.  The  intro- 
duction of  anything  like  ecclesiastical  or 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         123 

sectarian  teaching  into  the  public  schools 
— even  if  the  people  should  permit  it, 
which  we  have  no  idea  they  would  do — 
would  bear  with  it  a  menace  of  mis- 
chief which  these  very  men  would  be  first 
to  deplore:  and  the  practicability  of 
having  religious  instruction  given  in  the 
schools  without  danger  of  sectarian  propa- 
ganda is  scarcely  to  be  conceded.* 
Reverence  for  those  things  which  the  best 
general  sentiment  of  mankind  holds 
worthy  of  reverence,  righteousness,  in 
cleanliness  of  speech  and  thought  and 
honesty  of  conduct,  and  responsibility, 
in  regard  for  law  and  lawful  authority, 
should  be  taught,  we  believe,  in  the  schools 
as  well  as  in  the  home.  But  we  are  also 
persuaded  that  they  would  best  be  taught, 
not  by  special  teachers  in  special  services, 
but  by  the  regular  teachers  throughout 
all  the  ordinary  exercises ;  and  we  are  in- 
clined to  think  that  effort  would  most 
profitably  be  made  toward  that  end  by 
securing  for  all  schools  teachers  who 


*Very  true.     But  our'  plan    does  not  propose  to  introduce  sec- 
tarian teaching  into  the  public  schools. 


124          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

would  exert  such  influences,  and  by 
arousing  among  parents  a  realization  of 
the  duty  which  rests  upon  them  of  at 
least  actively  co-operating  with  the  schools 
in  the  right  training  of  their  children. — 
New  York  Daily  Tribune,  May  7,  1906. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS  ON  WEDNESDAY 

In  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  emi- 
nent clergymen  of  many  denominations, 
too  often  inharmonious,  who  met  in  the 
United  Charities  Building  this  week  to 
consider  the  "problem"  of  religious  in- 
struction for  the  children  in  the  public 
schools,  something  like  a  solution  of  that 
problem  can  be  reached  in  a  very  simple 
way.  The  plan  suggested,  and  apparently 
approved — though  evidently  with  varying 
degrees  of  hope — by  all  of  them  is  to 
establish  what,  for  want  of  a  better  name, 
may  be  called  Wednesday  afternoon  Sun- 
day-schools in  the  various  churches  and 
synagogues,  to  which  all  the  public  school 
scholars  are  to  be  sent  under  the  same 
sort  of  compulsion  that  forces  their  at- 
tendance at  the  secular  schools.  The  im- 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          125 

possibility  of  giving  in  the  public  schools 
any  kind  of  religious  instruction  that 
would  be  acceptable  to  all  the  parents  in 
such  a  mixed  population  as  ours  was 
frankly  recognized,  and  this,  it  seems  to 
us,  marked  a  new  and  desirable  appre- 
ciation of  facts,  but  we  cannot  avoid  the 
impression  that  the  clergymen  were  un- 
duly confident  as  to  the  practicability  of 
the  schools  they  had  in  mind.  Would 
there  not  be  the  same,  and  just  as  much, 
difficulty  in  making  the  children  go  to 
Sunday-school  on  Wednesday  as  there  is 
in  making  them  do  it  on  Sunday?  The 
latter  day,  according  to  the  admission  of 
many  of  the  clergymen,  has  become  for 
thousands  little  more  than  a  day  of  recre- 
ation, and  why  they  thought  Wednesday 
afternoon  would  be  otherwise  used  if  the 
public  schools  were  closed  then  is  far 
from  obvious.  The  suggestion  that  the 
truant  officers  could  force  the  children 
to  the  churches  as  well  as  to  the  schools 
ignores  the  circumstances  that  there  is 
practically  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
the  value  of  primary  education  of  the 


126          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

sort  now  given  by  the  city.  For  that 
reason  public  sentiment  supports  the  tru- 
ant officers  in  the  performance  of  their 
present  duties.  If  they  attempted  to  ex- 
ercise the  same  authority  in  sending  chil- 
dren to  church  for  religious  instruction 
they  would  not  be  likely  to  get  much  sup- 
port from  the  parents  who  do  not  already 
see  to  it  that  their  children  attend  the 
Sunday  schools  provided  by  all  sects  and 
denominations,  and  a  large  crop  of  as- 
sorted controversies  and  troubles  would 
be  almost  sure  to  grow  up.  So,  instead 
of  agreeing  with  those  at  this  meeting 
in  holding  the  idea  of  a  Wednesday  after- 
noon Sunday-school  to  be  a  hopeful  one, 
we  are  disposed  to  consider  it  almost 
hopeless.  The  clergy  have  the  best  of 
rights  to  advise  the  instruction  of  chil- 
dren in  something  more  than  the  three 
R's  of  tradition,  but  it  is  a  pity  that  they 
cannot  give  such  advice  without  somehow 
always  dragging  in  the  public  schools,  the 
commendable  purposes  of  which  are  as 
different  as  are  those  of  grocery  stores 
or  sugar  refineries. — N.  Y.  Times,  May  2, 1906. 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         127 

RELIGION  IN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

One  of  the  most  striking  and  suggest- 
ive incidents  in  connection  with  the  re- 
cent Conference  on  Federation  was  the 
reception  given  to  the  paper  read  before 
it  by  the  Rev.  George  U.  Wenner,  D.  D., 
president  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 
Dr.  Wenner  wrote  upon "  Week-Day  Re- 
ligious Education."  He  strongly  depicted 
the  deficiencies  of  the  present  system  of 
religious  instruction,  emphasized  the  im- 
portance of  the  principle  of  "unity"  in  ed- 
ucation, and  ended  by  urging  that  the 
church  ask  the  public  school,  which  surely 
owes  to  it  a  large  unpaid  debt,  that  it  should 
restore  to  the  church  one  afternoon  a  week 
— say  Wednesday  afternoon — for  purposes 
of  religious  instruction.  This  proposition 
was  received  with  great  applause,  and 
was  subsequently  embodied  in  a  formal 
resolution,  which  passed  without  a  word 
of  opposition  and  by  unanimous  vote. 

It  is  yet  far  too  early  to  attempt  to 
measure  the  significance  of  any  action 


128          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

taken  by  this  Conference.  It  was  nomi- 
nally representative  of  some  thirty  de- 
nominational bodies,  with  over  eighteen 
million  adherents.  If  the  adoption  of  this 
resolution  were  to  be  regarded  as  really 
the  matured  decision  and  determined 
purpose  of  the  united  evangelical  churches 
of  America,  it  would  be  impossible  to  see 
in  this  action  anything  else  than  the  for- 
mal reopening  of  a  question  long  supposed 
to  be  settled,  the  serious  renewal  of  a 
strife  supposed  to  be  ended.  It  has  been 
for  some  time  obvious  to  the  intelligent 
observer  that  strong  forces  were  making 
in  this  direction.  The  experience  of 
France,  which  abolished  religion  from  the 
public  schools  only  to  find  it  necessary, 
for  the  very  children's  sake,  to  restore  it, 
has  not  passed  unheeded.  The  results 
of  exclusion  from  our  own  schools  have 
awakened  serious  misgivings.  The  edu- 
cational system — religiously — is  certainly 
far  from  satisfactory.  But  one  would 
hardly  have  anticipated  that  so  radical  a 
proposition  as  this  would  have  received  so 
ready  an  endorsement  in  so  high  a  place. 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         129 

We  seriously  doubt  if  the  action  of  the 
Conference  can  be  taken  as  really  repre- 
sentative of  any  matured  purpose  on  the 
part  of  American  Protestantism,  or  any 
large  portion  thereof.  Nevertheless,  the 
passing  of  such  a  resolution  is  a  most 
significant  sign  of  the  times.  It  certainly 
indicates  a  grave  discontent  with  the 
present  system  in  religious  education. 
There  is  good  reason  for  that  discontent. 
The  neglect  of  religious  training  even  in 
professedly  Christian  families;  the  fact 
that  the  Sunday-school,  at  best,  includes 
but  a  fraction  of  the  children  needing  in- 
struction; and  the  further  fact,  according 
to  the  best  authorities,  that  though  the 
Sunday-school  is  often  extolled  as  an 
"evangelizing  agency,"  it  yet  graduates 
three  students  into  the  world  to  two  into 
the  church,  creates  a  serious  situation 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  ignore. 
Whether  to  "give  us  Wednesday  after- 
noon," according  to  Dr.  Wenner's  im- 
passioned plea,  is  the  coming  solution  of 
our  difficulties,  may  be  gravely  doubted. 
But  it  was  well  that  the  entire  matter 


130          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

should  be  brought  before  the  attention 
of  the  Christian  world  in  a  form  to  arrest 
attention.  If  this  proposal  of  the  Con- 
ference shall  provide  a  thorough  dis- 
cussion of  the  entire  situation,  it  will — even 
though  it  should  have  done  no  more — 
quite  pay  for  its  existence. — The  Ex- 
aminer, November,  30,  1905, 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  ON  WEEK  DAYS 

We  believe  three  things  to  be  true: 
First,  that  in  the  public  schools  there  is  no 
religious  teaching  of  any  kind  worth  the 
name,  and  that  there  never  will  be  any 
more  than  there  is  now.  Second,  that 
home  teaching  by  Christians  is  much  less 
than  it  was.  If  it  be  asked  on  what 
ground  we  hold  this  opinion  we  answer 
that  it  is  the  judgment  of  many  pastors 
and  many  of  the  best  Sunday-school-teach- 
ers, that  it  is  the  testimony  of  many  chil- 
dren, and  is  the  judgment  of  and  is  ad- 
mitted by  many  parents  when  inquired 
of  upon  the  subject,  that  the  Sunday- 
schools  are  depended  on  for  the  religious 
instruction  of  the  children.  Parents  who 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          131 

were  devout  Christians  were  in  the  habit 
of  instructing  their  children,  and  also  of 
requiring  the  children  to  learn  the  Sunday- 
school  lessons  at  home.  The  larger  part 
of  the  instruction  now  given  is  that  im- 
parted to  infants  and  little  children  by 
their  mothers.  This  is  the  principal 
survival  of  the  family  teaching  that  was 
formerly  very  common  in  the  Presby- 
terian and  Baptist  Churches,  and  generally 
in  the  more  regular  Methodists.  The 
explanation  of  the  expression  "regular 
Methodists"  is  this,  that  there  has  always 
been  a  certain  class  of  Methodists  who 
depended  exclusively  on  meetings  and 
emotional  appeals,  but  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  denomination,  while  desiring 
to  be  moved  upon  by  the  Spirit  and 
by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Wesley's  plan  and  constantly 
read  the  Scriptures  and  religious  books, 
observed  family  prayers,  took  their  chil- 
dren to  the  regular  worship  of  the  House 
of  God,  and  took  great  pains  to  endorse 
every  good  maxim  and  to  intensify  every 
appeal  made  by  the  pastors.  The  third 


132          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thing  that  we  firmly  believe  is,  that  were 
the  Sunday  school  absolutely  perfect  in 
government,  in  teaching  force,  in  system, 
in  punctuality,  one  hour  a  week  would 
not  suffice,  without  other  means,  to  make 
a  permanent  impression  upon  any  but  a 
small  minority  of  the  scholars.  What, 
then,  can  be  expected  when  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  suppose  that  the  Sunday  schools 
answer  the  description  here  supposed? 
The  evangelical  churches  have  much  to 
learn  from  Catholic  methods  in  the  teach- 
ing of  children.  Other  denominations 
have  very  much  to  learn  from  the  Luther- 
ans. The  Presbyterians  and  Baptists 
need  to  remember  to  put  in  practice  their 
former  methods;  but  circumstances  have 
changed.  Most  people  now  live  at  long 
distances  from  their  places  of  business, 
and  the  great  majority,  especially  in  cities, 
spend  from  a  fourth  to  a  third  of  their 
lives  away  from  home,  including  in  this 
the  summer  hegira.  If  the  public  authori- 
ties would  consent  to  Dr.  Wenner's 
proposition,  it  would  give  a  great  impetus 
to  religious  education  of  children.  Such  a 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          133 

method  could  not  be  made  popular  by 
mere  discussion.  It  would  be  necessary 
to  have  the  plan  tried  in  some  school  or 
some  section  of  a  large  city.  In  case  it 
succeeded  it  might  then  spread.  At  all 
events  something  should  be  done.  We 
have  a  proposition  which,  after  we  have 
given  it  a  little  more  thought,  will  be  of- 
fered to  pastors  situated  so  as  to  make 
it  feasible.  Meanwhile  we  commend  to 
them  and  to  all  parents,  to  Christian 
teachers  of  public  schools,  to  public  school 
superintendents  and  committees,  to  con- 
sider whether  the  plan  could  be  tried  in  their 
section.  Some  communities  are  so  homo- 
geneous that  there  would  be  no  difficulty 
in  making  the  experiment. — The  Chris- 
tian Advocate,  February  8,  1906. 

RELIGION    AND   THE    SCHOOLS 

It  is  claimed  by  some  that  our  common 
schools  are  irreligious,  and  while  this 
assertion  is  largely  urged  in  the  interest 
of  some  particular  form  of  religion,  there 
is  enough  foundation  for  the  assertion  to 
make  worth  while  an  inquiry  as  to  actual 


134          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

conditions  and  as  to  how  they  may  be 
improved. 

It  is  not  strictly  true  that  our  schools 
are  irreligious.  They  hold  the  same 
relation  to  religion  as  the  state  to  its  citi- 
zens. By  law  and  precedent  the  right 
of  citizenship  is  accorded  to  all,  irrespec- 
tive of  creed  or  religious  conviction;  yet 
we  are  a  Christian  nation,  preserving 
the  religious  characteristics  of  the  first 
settlers  as  has  been  uniformly  recog- 
nized by  the  highest  courts  of  the  states 
and  the  nation,  by  the  constitutions  of 
most  of  the  states,  and  by  legislation  for 
Sunday  observance  and  the  protection  of 
Christian  morals.  So  in  our  schools  an 
education  is  provided  for  all  without  re- 
gard to  creed,  and  the  only  restriction  is 
against  propagating  any  particular  type 
of  religion,  not  against  religion  itself,  or 
the  morality  underlying  our  Christian 
civilization.  In  fact  and  practice  prayer 
and  reading  of  the  Bible  in  nearly  all  the 
states  and  in  most  schools,  continue  a 
survival  of  what  was  universal  in  the  for- 
mative period  of  the  nation,  when  the 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          135 

school  was  a  recognized  adjunct  of  the 
church. 

Our  cosmopolitan  population  and  the 
entire  passing  over  of  primary  and  sec- 
ondary schools  into  the  hands  of  the 
state  have  minimized  the  recognition  and 
teaching  of  religion  in  them,  and  while 
not  irreligious,  our  schools  have  become 
non-religious  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  is 
desirable  for  the  future  good  of  the  nation. 

Our  people  are  firm  in  the  conviction 
that  education  is  fundamental  in  a  free 
republic,  and  that  public  schools  open  to 
all  must  be  maintained.  Equally  strong 
is  the  conviction  that  there  can  be  no  true 
education  without  religion.  The  recon- 
ciliation of  these  two  ideas  is  the  problem 
which  confronts  thoughtful  minds.  There 
is  a  growing  persuasion  that  the  great  need 
of  the  schools  is  more  religious  instruction 
and  a  better  grounding  of  our  future 
citizens  in  Bible  morality  and  Christian 
ethics. 

How  to  secure  this  in  a  school  where 
Jews,  Romanists,  Protestants,  and  in- 
fidels are  expected  to  meet  on  common 


136          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ground  is  confessedly  difficult.  It  is  far 
more  so  with  us,  than  in  countries  where 
the  separation  of  church  and  state  is  more 
recent  or  less  complete,  and  where  the 
schools  are  under  more  direct  govern- 
ment control.  Other  Christian  countries 
have  met  the  same  problem  and  found 
a  temporary,  if  not  a  final  solution.  In 
Germany  religious  instruction  is  given 
precedence  and  at  least  five  hours  a  week 
in  every  school  is  given  to  it.  In  England, 
while  the  Non- Conformist  Churches  and 
adherents  have  protested  against  schools 
under  the  control  of  the  established 
church,  all  expect  and  desire  that  in  the 
national,  as  well  as  the  board  schools,  re- 
ligious instruction,  of  a  non-sectarian 
type,  should  be  provided  for  every  child. 
In  France,  the  separation  of  church  and 
state  has  completely  secularized  the 
schools,  yet  provision  is  made  for  religious 
instruction,  by  setting  apart  Thursday  of 
each  week  for  such  instruction  as  the 
churches  may  desire  to  give. 

How  is  it  with  us  ?     As  has  been  said, 
in  the  vast  majority  of  our  schools  there  is 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          137 

a  recognition  of  religion  in  the  opening 
exercises,  but  even  this  is  often  protested 
against,  and  inadequately  meets  the  need. 
Religious  instruction  has  to  be  otherwise 
provided.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 
meets  the  problem  by  the  parochial 
school,  and  agitates  continually  for  help 
from  the  state  in  its  support.  Some 
Protestants,  as  the  Moravians  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  Lutheran  Church,  also  main- 
tain parochial  schools,  but  with  no  de- 
mand or  expectation  of  aid  from  the  public 
treasury.  Our  own  church  experimented 
somewhat  in  this  line,  but  with  us,  as 
with  most  Protestants,  this  solution  has 
not  met  with  favor. 

The  dependence  for  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  children  consequently  has  been 
on  the  Sunday-school,  and  the  important 
sphere  this  has  come  to  occupy  has  called 
special  attention  to  its  limitations,  and 
the  need  of  better  methods.  One  hour 
a  week,  with  teachers  inadequately  trained, 
and  attendance  voluntary  and  irreg- 
ular, with  no  means  of  enforcing  study- 
surely  the  religious  training  afforded  by 


138  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  Sunday-school  must  be  meagre  and 
unsatisfactory.  Where  not  reinforced  by 
home  teaching,  its  results  are  disap- 
pointing. 

These  considerations  make  pertinent 
the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Wenner,  of  this  city, 
that  a  modification  of  the  plan  adopted  in 
France  be  introduced  in  our  American 
system.  There,  one  whole  day  is  sur- 
rendered to  religious  instruction  under 
direction  of  the  church.  He  suggests 
that  surely  here  a  half -day,  e.  (jr.,  Wednes- 
day afternoon,  could  be  surrendered  to 
the  churches  for  such  religious  instruction 
as  they  may  provide.  Under  this  plan 
the  school  curriculum  could  be  arranged 
so  that  the  absentees  should  not  suffer 
serious  loss,  and  the  non-church  children 
need  not  be  turned  into  the  street.  Under 
it  the  attendance  on  the  instruction  given 
by  the  church  should  be  the  basis  of  an 
excuse  for  absence,  and  be  enforced  as 
part  of  the  regular  school  curriculum. 
When  the  importance  of  systematic  reli- 
gious instruction  of  the  children  is  con- 
sidered, this  suggestion  is  worthy  of  care- 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          139 

ful  consideration.  There  are  difficulties 
in  working  out  such  a  scheme,  but  they 
are  not  insuperable,  and  the  end  to  be 
attained  is  well  worth  the  co-operation  of 
school  boards  and  the  churches  in  secur- 
ing for  it  a  trial. — The  Christian  Intelli- 
gencer, February  28,  1906. 

WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION 

At  the  recent  meeting  in  New  York  of 
the  Inter-Church  Conference  on  Federa- 
tion, Dr.  G.  U.  Wenner  read  a  paper  on 
"  Week-Day  Religious  Instruction,"  which 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  Confer- 
ence, and  afterward  received  favorable 
notice  from  the  religious  press  in  general. 
The  Conference  unanimously  adopted 
the  following  resolution  prepared  by  him: 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  need  of  more 
systematic  education  in  religion,  we  recom- 
mend for  the  favorable  consideration  of 
the  public  school  authorities  of  the  coun- 
try the  proposal  to  allow  the  children  to 
absent  themselves,  without  detriment, 
from  the  public  school  on  Wednesday,  or 


140          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

on  some  other  afternoon  of  the  school 
week,  for  the  purpose  of  attending  re- 
ligious instruction  in  their  own  churches; 
and  we  urge  upon  the  churches  the  ad- 
visability of  availing  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  so  granted  to  give  such  in- 
struction in  addition  to  that  given  on 
Sunday." 

The  resolution  gives  the  gist  of  the 
paper,  which,  however,  removes  the  ob- 
jection that  might  be  urged  against  turn- 
ing upon  the  street  a  crowd  of  children 
who  might  not  be  required  by  their  par- 
ents to  attend  religious  instruction.  Dr. 
Wenner  says:  :'This  does  not  involve 
the  closing  of  the  public  school  on  Wed- 
nesday afternoon,  and  turning  the  non- 
church  children  into  the  street.  It  simply 
asks  that  the  children  attending  the 
church  school  shall  be  excused  for  their 
absence.  The  course  of  study  might  be 
so  arranged  that  absentees  would  not 
suffer  an  irreparable  loss.  Music,  eti- 
quette, or  ethics,  or  some  other  substi- 
tute for  religion,  might  be  given  to  those 
who  remain." 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          141 

We  do  not  intend  to  argue  the  subject 
in  this  article  further  than  to  state  a  few 
propositions,  which  may  be  readily  de- 
fended, if  not  deemed  almost  self-evident: 

1.  No  education  is  complete  that  lacks 
religious  instruction. 

2.  This  instruction  is  not  given  in  the 
public  school. 

3.  The   public   school,    under   present 
circumstances,  cannot  give  it. 

4.  The  home  in  most  cases  does  not 
supply  it. 

5.  The   present    Sunday-school    is    in- 
adequate to  give  it  in  sufficient  measure. 

6.  The  parochial  school,  which  might 
solve  the  problem,  seems  to  many  to  be 
uri-American,  and  certainly  is  not  popu- 
lar with  Protestants. 

Dr.  Wenner's  proposition  seems  to 
offer  the  best  present  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. A  plan  somewhat  similar  is  now 
in  practical  operation  in  France.  Per- 
haps, by  way  of  experiment,  Saturday 
afternoon  for  a  period  of  two  hours  might 
be  chosen. 

The  practical  application  of  Dr.  Wen- 


142          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ner's  idea  is  the  matter  that  concerns  us 
most  in  this  article.  It  seems  to  us  that  in 
his  resolution  he  puts  the  initiative  at  the 
wrong  place.  "  The  public  school  author- 
ities" are  not  likely  to  make  the  start. 
The  churches  must  do  this  in  some  way. 
The  best  way  which  occurs  to  us  at  this 
writing  is  to  do  this  through  the  local 
ministerial  society,  which  exists  already 
or  may  be  formed.  The  ministers  ought 
to  take  the  lead.  It  is  their  legitimate 
business  to  do  so.  Their  efforts  would 
receive  the  support  of  the  Christian 
people;  and  the  "school  authorities" 
would  fall  into  line. 

In  small  communities  a  single  religious 
school  might  do  the  required  work.  The 
pastors  or  competent  day-school  teachers 
could  do  the  teaching.  In  larger  towns 
the  children  of  the  same  or  allied  denom- 
inations might  be  gathered  into  one  school. 
Of  course,  the  details  would  have  to  be 
worked  out  by  committees  and  modified 
by  experience.  The  matter  of  instruction 
must  naturally  be  Biblical  and  Christian, 
but  not  confessional  or  sectarian. 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          143 

The  scheme  will  not  be  generally 
adopted  at  once,  if  at  all.  There  must 
be  an  object-lesson  first.  It  seems  to  us 
that  one  of  our  larger  inland  towns  ought  to 
give  it.  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  for  ex- 
ample, the  residence  of  the  indefatigable 
Dr.  Schmauk,  who  has  done  so  much  in 
preparing  graded  lessons,  is  an  ideal  place 
for  the  experiment.  Easton,  Carlisle, 
and  York  offer  favorable  conditions.  And 
there  are  scores  of  other  towns  throughout 
the  country  which  ought  to  take  to  the 
idea.  The  places  mentioned  are  more 
particularly  known  to  the  writer.  We 
most  earnestly  commend  to  the  consider- 
ation ox  the  Protestant  clergy  of  these 
cities  the  matter  of  week-day  religious 
education. — Prof.  J.  A.  Singmaster,  in 
The  Lutheran  Observer. 

THE    CHURCH    AND   THE    SCHOOLS 

A  proposal  is  being  seriously  considered 
by  representatives  of  many  Churches,  not 
all  of  them  Christian,  to  secure  the  co-oper- 
ation of  the  state  and  city  educational 
authorities  with  the  churches  in  a  plan  for 


144          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  religious  education  of  school  children. 
At  a  meeting,  in  New  York,  of  which  an 
account  will  be  found  in  our  news  columns, 
representatives  of  our  own  church,  of  the 
Roman  Catholics,  Methodists,  Presbyte- 
rians, Congregationalists  and  Jews,  joined 
in  more  or  less  qualified  commendation 
of  the  proposal  of  a  committee  appointed 
some  months  ago  to  consider  the  matter. 
The  proposal  was  that  public  school 
children,  who  might  desire  it,  or  whose 
parents  desired  it  for  them,  should  be 
excused  from  the  Wednesday  afternoon 
session  of  the  public  schools  that  they 
might  receive  instruction  in  their  respec- 
tive churches.  Of  this  plan  Bishop 
Greer  said:  "If  it  does  not  succeed  it 
will  not  be  the  fault  of  the  schools — it 
will  be  the  fault  of  the  churches.  At  all 
events  it  is  an  experiment  that  is  well 
worth  trying." 

We  are  not  so  sure  of  that.  It  seems 
to  us  an  experiment  of  very  doubtful  ex- 
pediency; one  that  we  would  much  rather 
leave  untried.  With  all  that  Bishop 
Greer  said  in  commendation  of  the  great 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          145 

patriotic  work  of  the  public  schools,  with 
his  indignant  repudiation  of  the  aspersion 
that  they  are  "godless,"  we  are  in  hearty 
accord.  We  agree  with  him  entirely,  too, 
that  it  is  not  the  business  of  the  public 
schools  to  give  religious  instruction.  But 
neither  is  it  their  business  to  see  that  it  is 
given.  "It  is  for  the  churches  to  give 
religious  training,"  said  Bishop  Greer, 
"that  is  what  the  churches  are  for." 
"What  they  ask,"  he  continued,  "is  that 
they  have  the  opportunity  of  doing  what 
they  exist  to  do."  This  "opportunity"  of 
which  Bishop  Greer  speaks  would  amount 
under  this  proposal  to  the  opportu- 
nity to  compel  attendance  at  "religious 
instruction  by  the  use  of  the  same  system 
that  the  state  has  devised  to  ensure  at- 
tendance at  public  schools.  The  churches 
apparently,  to  ensure  their  "  opportunity," 
propose  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  truant 
officer.  Moreover,  they  propose  that  one- 
tenth  of  the  time  which  the  state  con- 
siders necessary  for  the  child's  instruc- 
tion and  for  the  full  employment  of  which 
the  tax-payers  are  paying,  shall  be  taken 


146          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

for  use  by  instructors  of  whose  pedagogi- 
cal competence  the  state  has  no  knowl- 
edge, and  over  whom  it  can  exercise  no 
control.  The  public  schools  need  all  the 
time  they  can  get  for  their  work.  They 
have  not  an  hour  too  much.  The  supposi- 
tion that  one  session  out  of  the  ten  in 
each  week  can  be  given  to  "  relatively  un- 
important" studies  shows  a  strange  ig- 
norance of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
school  curriculum  is  devised,  and  of  the 
anxious  care  with  which  the  various  ele- 
ments in  education  are  balanced  against 
one  another,  that  every  minute  may  be 
used  to  the  utmost.  We  want  no  inter- 
ference of  the  state  in  education  by  the 
church  and  no  interference  by  the  church 
in  education  by  the  state.  The  plan 
seems  to  us  bad  in  itself,  even  if  it  were 
found  practicable.  It  would  prove  even 
worse  in  the  results  to  which  it  would  in- 
evitably lead.  For  surely  the  benefit  of  re- 
ligious instruction  would  be  a  question- 
able quantity  if  children  found  it  so 
uninteresting  or  their  parents  were  so 
indifferent  to  its  value  that  they  must  be 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          147 

dragged  to  the  church  to  receive  it.  The 
church  must  win  her  children;  she  can- 
not force  them  into  allegiance. 

We  do  not  wish  to  create  in  this  coun- 
try conditions  that  are  distracting  the 
English  Church  and  Parliament  and  in- 
juring the  efficiency  of  both.  We  cannot 
forget  that  the  plan  has  the  support  of 
the  traditional  enemies  of  public  educa- 
tion. To  opponents  of  the  American  sys- 
tem we  would  say  in  challenge  and  to  its 
friends  in  warning:  Hands  off  the  public 
schools. — The  Churchman,  May  12,  1906. 

RELIGION  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

To  the  Editor  of  the  CHURCHMAN  : 

As  secretary  of  the  Missionary  Thank- 
Off  ering  Committee  lam  enjoying  an  un- 
usual opportunity  to  confer  with  laymen 
and  clergymen  all  over  the  country,  re- 
specting the  points  of  strength  and  weak- 
ness in  the  work  of  our  church.  I  find 
a  large  number  of  intelligent  people 
who  share  the  opinion  which  I  have  ven- 
tured to  form  upon  this  subject.  That 
opinion  is  that  we  are  bringing  annually 


148          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

into  vital  relation  with  Christ  a  number 
of  men,  pitiably  small,  when  regard  is  had 
to  our  great  scheme  of  church  organiza- 
tion and  to  the  power  of  the  message  with 
which  we  are  entrusted.  In  the  great  ma- 
jority of  parishes  there  is  little  vital  re- 
ligion among  men.  In  the  relatively  small 
missionary  work  of  the  church  the  men 
have  hitherto  taken  an  insignificant  part. 
I  state  what  I  believe  to  be  facts,  not  at 
all  in  a  spirit  of  hopelessness  and  depres- 
sion, but  as  one  who  is  awestricken  in 
the  presence  of  so  great  an  opportunity 
for  the  work  ot  Christian  education.  I  be- 
lieve it  was  Horace  Bushnell  who,  in  reply 
to  the  question,  "Has  not  Christianity 
been  a  failure ?"  replied,  "How  can  it 
have  failed?  It  has  never  been  tried." 
This  was  an  exaggeration;  but  only  an 
exaggeration;  not  a  statement  wholly 
false.  In  searching  for  the  causes  of 
weakness  in  the  church,  would  it  not  be 
wise  to  consider  whether  this  is  not  one 
of  them — that  we  are  not  giving  Chris- 
tianity a  fair  trial  ? 

I  venture  to  affirm  that  what  we  need 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         149 

is  more  direct  and  positive  teaching,  in 
the  pulpit,  at  missionary  conferences  and 
in  the  columns  of  the  church  papers,  re- 
specting the  essence  of  Christianity,  which 
I  take  to  be  this — that  it  is  absolute  devo- 
tion to  Jesus  Christ  as  not  onlv  our  Lord 

m 

but  our  Friend.  We  have  a  simple  mes- 
sage; but,  if  properly  delivered,  it  will 
find  a  lodgment  in  every  soul.  As  our 
Gospel  is  the  good  news  of  the  redeeming 
love  of  our  Friend,  so  our  message  is  the 
proclamation  of  our  duty  to  Him.  That 
duty  is  twofold;  first,  to  make  ourselves 
fit  to  associate  with  Him  and  hold  com- 
munion with  Him;  second,  to  co-operate 
with  Him  in  bringing  all  men  everywhere 
into  the  personal  relation  of  friendship 
with  Him.  But  "how  shall  they  call  on 
Him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed  ? 
And  how  shall  they  believe  in  Him  of 
whom  they  have  not  heard?  And  how 
shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher? 
And  how  shall  they  preach  except  they 
be  sent?" 

It  is  not  enough  that  we  have  a  mes- 
sage.   It  is  not  even  enough  that  we  utter 


150          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

it  ourselves  and  send  others  to  do  like- 
wise. We  must  devise  means  to  bring 
within  range  of  the  message  those  for 
whom  it  is  intended.  I  am  not  speaking 
at  the  moment  of  the  heathen  but  of  two 
classes  of  people  who  sustain  a  geograph- 
ical or  family  relationship  to  our  parish 
churches — the  men  and  the  children. 

To  reach  the  men  and  the  older  boys, 
the  M.  T.  O.  movement  has  been  inaugu- 
rated and  already  God  has  blessed  its 
progress.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  money- 
raising  aspect  of  the  movement.  Money 
giving,  except  as  an  expression  of  devo- 
tion, is  of  little  or  no  subjective  value. 
I  speak  of  the  anointing  of  blind  eyes 
to  see  the  vision  of  a  world  to  be  won 
for  Christ  and  the  unstopping  of  deaf 
ears  to  hear  the  cry  of  souls  that  must 
be  saved.  The  working  of  these  miracles 
is  the  primary  purpose  of  the  M.  T.  O. 

But  what  about  the  children?  It  is 
plain  that  they  cannot  "believe  in  Him  of 
whom  they  have  not  heard."  The  lack 
of  insight  into  the  heart  of  Christianity 
upon  the  part  of  this  generation  of 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          151 

adults  shows  that  they  have  been  defec- 
tively taught.  What  about  the  rising  gen- 
eration ?  Here  is  a  great  opportunity  and 
a  solemn  responsibility.  Of  course  nor- 
mal children  do  not  want  to  be  taught 
and  will  not  come  voluntarily.  By  the 
time  we  have  trained  the  parents  to  com- 
pel them  to  hear  our  message  the  chil- 
dren will  be  parents  themselves — and  we 
shall  have  the  work  to  do  over  again.  As 
a  matter  of  course,  we  compel  children  to 
receive  secular  instruction.  We  know 
that  interest  and  even  zeal  will  come  with 
the  recognition  of  ignorance  and  the 
vision  of  knowledge.  Accordingly  it  is  pro- 
posed in  New  York,  as  you  explain  in 
your  issue  of  May  12th,  to  allow  Christian 
instruction  in  a  child's  own  church  on 
Wednesday  afternoons  to  count  in  lieu  of 
an  afternoon's  attendance  upon  public 
school.  Christianity  must  be  imparted 
to  the  children  of  the  church,  not  by 
preaching  but  by  careful  and  systematic 
teaching.  What  place  more  appropriate 
than  the  parish  church?  What  thought 
more  important  to  the  child  than  the 


152          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thought  that  to  learn  to  know  Christ — 
not  to  know  about  Him — is  an  essential 
part  of  education  ?  Yet  in  your  editorial 
you  say -."Surely  the  benefit  of  religious 
instruction  would  be  a  questionable  quan- 
tity if  children  found  it  so  uninteresting 
or  their  parents  were  so  indifferent  to  its 
value  that  they  must  be  dragged  to  the 
church  to  receive  it.  The  church  must 
win  her  children;  she  cannot  force  them 
into  allegiance."  Am  I  manifesting  an 
unchristian  spirit  if  I  ask  whether  these 
are  the  words  of  one  who  believes  that 
the  future  of  our  nation  and  of  our 
church  depends  upon  bringing  young 
children  to  Christ? 

But  you  say:  "The  public  schools  need 
all  the  time  they  can  get  for  their  work. 
They  have  not  an  hour  too  much.  The 
supposition  that  one  session  out  of  the  ten 
in  each  week  can  be  given  to  'relatively 
unimportant'  studies,  shows  a  strange 
ignorance  of  the  conditions  under  which 
the  school  curriculum  is  devised,  and  of 
the  anxious  care  with  which  the  various 
elements  in  education  are  balanced 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          153 

against  one  another,  that  every  minute 
may  be  used  to  the  utmost."  Not  at  all 
in  a  controversial  spirit,  may  I  ask  the 
writer  of  these  words  this  question: 
"What  is  the  relative  importance  of  secu- 
lar education  and  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ?"  Of  course  school  hours  are  all 
too  short  for  learning.  Art  is  long  and 
time  is  fleeting.  But  the  real  question  is : 
Shall  the  little  time  for  learning  be  de- 
voted exclusively  to  other  subjects  than 
learning  to  know  Christ? 

It  is  proposed,  you  say,  "that  one-tenth 
of  the  time  which  the  state  considers 
necessary  for  the  child's  instruction  and 
for  the  full  employment  of  which  the  tax- 
payers are  paying,  shall  be  taken  for  use 
by  instructors  of  whose  pedagogical  com- 
petence the  state  has  no  knowledge,  and 
over  whom  it  can  exercise  no  control." 
"The  state"  means  you  and  the  rest  of 
us.  As  far  as  we  churchmen  and  our 
children  are  concerned,  it  is  proposed  that 
the  teaching  shall  be  done  in  our  own 
churches  and  under  the  direction  of  our 
own  clergy.  Whose  fault  is  it  if  we  have 


154  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

no  knowledge  of  their  "  pedagogical  com- 
petency," and  if  we  exercise  no  control 
over  them  ? 

Finally  you  observe:  "We  want  no  in- 
terference of  the  state  in  education  by  the 
church,  and  no  interference  by  the 
church  in  education  by  the  state,"  and 
you  close  by  a  reference  to  the  conditions 
that  are  distracting  the  English  Church 
and  Parliament.  Is  it  your  opinion  that 
the  separation  of  church  and  state  should 
be  so  complete  that  our  people  as  a  whole 
are  to  be  indifferent  whether  or  not 
the  children  receive  religious  instruction 
from  the  church  of  their  parents'  choice  ? 
If  you  do  not  mean  this,  what  do  you 
mean  ?  In  England  they  are  at  least  dis- 
tracted over  the  effort  to  solve  this  diffi- 
cult problem.  Because  of  its  difficulty 
shall  we  give  it  up  in  advance  ?  The  plan 
proposed  in  New  York  avoids  the  chief 
difficulties  which  have  caused  trouble  in 
England,  yet  your  language  seems  to  im- 
ply that  we  proposed  to  try  an  experiment 
which  has  failed.  May  those  of  us  who 
believe  that  Christian  education  alone  can 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS          155 

appease  the  hunger  of  the  age  call  upon 
you  for  some  constructive  suggestion  ?  If 
you  have  a  better  plan  than  this,  we 
solemnly  adjure  you  to  make  it  public. 
Do  not  tell  us:  "The  churches  are  open; 
the  children  ought  to  go  voluntarily  and 
be  taught  there."  We  have  tried  this  ex- 
periment and  it  has  failed.  Do  not  say: 
"This  matter  of  Christian  instruction  is 
the  business  of  the  parents."  Perhaps  so; 
but  the  parents  are  not  attending  to 
their  business.  Do  not  point  to  voluntary 
attendance  upon  Sunday-school  as  the 
solution  of  the  difficulty.  The  Sunday- 
school  is  a  blessed  institution,  but  it 
reaches  only  a  corner  of  the  field.  The 
point  is,  Mr.  Editor,  that  multitudes  of 
the  children  of  the  Church  are  dying  or 
growing  up  without  being  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  Christ.  This  is  your  fault 
and  mine.  What  are  we  going  to  do 
about  it?  Your  only  reply  so  far  is, 
"  Hands  off  the  public  schools."  Nobody 
has  suggested  laying  hands  on  the  public 
schools.  The  proposition  is  to  lay  hands 
upon  your  children  and  mine,  and  to 


156          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

bring  them  within  reach  of  the  voice  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Instead  of  opposing,  will 
you  not  help? 

G.  W.  PEPPER. 

Philadelphia — (The  Churchman,  May 
26,  1906.) 

RELIGION  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

To  the  Editor  of  the  CHURCHMAN: 

Your  editorial  of  May  12th  concerning 
the  proposition  to  have  the  public  school 
authorities  excuse  the  children  of  such 
parents  as  desire  it  from  attendance  at 
school  on  Wednesday  afternoons,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  instructed  elsewhere  in 
religious  subjects,  has  not  been  replied  to 
in  your  issue  of  to-day.  Failing  a  more 
competent  person  to  answer  your  objec- 
tions, may  I  make  several  suggestions  in 
this  connection  ? 

(1)  There  is  no  complete  and  fully 
formulated  proposition  before  us  as  yet, 
other  than  what  is  roughly  stated  above. 
At  the  same  meeting  where  one  speaker 
said  that  he  would  consider  it  beneficial 
to  have  truant  officers  compel  attendance, 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         157 

another  said  that  there  would  be  nothing 
to  prevent  some  parents — though  he 
thought  that  there  would  be  very  few  of 
such — from  taking  advantage  of  this  to 
keep  their  children  at  home  for  other  rea- 
sons than  to  have  them  taught  religion. 
Certainly  many  of  us  agree  with  you  "  that 
it  is  not  the  business  of  the  public  schools 
to  give  religious  instruction,"  and 
"neither  is  it  their  business  to  see  that  it 
is  given."  So  also  your  statement  that 
this  is  a  demand  for  "  10  per  cent"  of  the 
work  hours  of  the  school  week  depends 
upon  the  hour  when  the  children  shall  be 
excused,  and  this  is  not  yet  determined. 
Evidently  while  discussion  of  details  is 
quite  to  the  point,  condemnation  of  the 
scheme  for  such  reasons  is  quite  prema- 
ture. 

(2)  Your  next  objection  is  that  "The 
public  schools  need  all  the  time  that  they 
can  get  for  work.  They  have  not  an  hour 
too  much."  Comparing  our  educational 
system  with  that  of  other  Christian  na- 
tions, we  are  alone,  so  far  as  1  know,  in 
not  providing  for  religious  instruction 


158          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

within  the  school  week.  As  a  people,  we 
have  decided,  and  most  of  us  think  very 
wisely  decided,  that  we  shall  not  have 
religion  taught  by  the  state.  But  having 
surrendered  these  hours  which  other  na- 
tions use  for  religious  training,  to  purely 
secular  training,  does  our  secular  training 
for  that  reason  outstrip  all  others — the 
Germans,  for  instance?  Yet  they  in- 
variably have  religion  among  their  set 
tasks  of  the  week.  Or  is  it  true  again,  as 
you  claim,  that  there  are  no  "relatively 
unimportant"  studies  which  might  be  put 
on  the  Wednesday  afternoon  public  school 
schedule?  Here  are  certain  subjects 
taught  in  the  public  schools  to  children 
of  fourteen  years  and  under,  which  do  not 
all  appear  to  be  of  first  importance: 

Carpentry,  sewing,  cooking,  drawing, 
hygiene,  singing,  construction  work 
(fancy  boxes,  etc.). 

But  now  suppose  it  be  asked  if  we  have 
not  our  Sunday-schools  to  teach  religious 
subjects  on  Sunday  ?  The  best  answer  to 
that  would  seem  to  be  that,  barring  rare 
exceptions,  the  Sunday-school  simply 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         159 

does  not  do  the  work — and  this  in  a  day 
when  there  is  little  or  no  religious  instruc- 
tion at  home,  and  therefore  children  must 
be  taught  outside.  Two  things,  certainly, 
are  accomplished  in  our  Sunday-schools: 
in  the  person  of  the  teacher  the  child 
comes  into  contact  with  a  maturer 
Christian  and  often  a  highly  consecrated 
character,  and  furthermore  it  is  brought 
to  public  worship.  These  are  splendid 
results,  the  value  of  which  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. But  still  crowds  of  children 
slip  away  forever  from  Sunday-school, 
never  becoming  church  members,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  religion  soon  ceases  to 
interest  and  appeal  to  them — perhaps  it 
never  did — and  those  who  do  pass  on  into 
church  are  inadequately  taught. 

Among  the  causes  for  this  failure  we 
may  note  that,  first,  there  is  not  time 
enough.  Could  you  teach  a  child  to  read 
if  you  had  him  as  one  of  an  often  dis- 
orderly class,  for  a  lesson  of  from  twenty 
to  thirty-five  minutes  once  a  week,  or 
could  you  teach  him  arithmetic,  or  re- 
ligious truths,  or  anything,  except  in  a 


160          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

most  superficial  manner  ?  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  you  cannot  and  you  do  not,  even  if 
you  are  a  clever  teacher.  And  as  a  second 
cause  of  failure  the  teaching  staff  is  not 
adequate  for  the  work,  often  as  to  train- 
ing and  generally  as  to  numbers.  Leav- 
ing aside  that  class  of  teachers  who  stay 
at  home  because  it  rains  or  a  friend  calls, 
what  the  teacher  accomplishes  is  com- 
monly more  in  the  line  of  character  build- 
ing than  instructing,  and  if  anything  of 
real  value  is  done  by  a  good  teacher,  be 
sure  that  the  pupils  are  met  outside  the 
regular  Sunday-school  session,  and  that 
brings  us  back  to  this  question  of  week- 
day work. 

It  is  necessary  here  that  we  should 
recognize  that  the  standard  of  religious 
instruction  which  Christian  people  in 
America  are  contented  with  is  shamefully 
low — there  is  nothing  like  it  certainly 
among  the  Northern  nations  of  Europe. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  average,  your  good 
Sunday-school  pupil  can  glibly  recite  the 
catechism,  but,  even  if  in  an  advanced 
grade,  what  can  he  tell  of  the  doctrine  of 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         161 

the  Atonement  or  the  evidences  of  the 
Resurrection  of  our  Lord  ?  He  knows  the 
graphic  stories  of  the  Old  Testament,  but 
the  profounder  things  concerning  the 
struggles  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  church 
are  beyond  him,  while  the  beauty  and 
majesty  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  is  a 
closed  book  even  to  many  an  older 
churchman  who  never  had  his  eyes 
opened  in  his  youth.  The  life  of  our  Lord 
is  learned  in  outline — fortunately  the 
church  year  prevents  our  getting  far 
from  that — but  how  much  thorough 
knowledge  is  there  of  this  greatest  of 
subjects?  Think  also  of  the  life  of  St. 
Paul,  the  early  church,  church  history, 
including  the  Reformation  and  our  Amer- 
ican church,  the  story  of  Christian  Mis- 
sions and  the  formation  of  our  Prayer 
Book — no  wonder  that  the  men  who  are 
interested  in  seeing  some  real  and  thor- 
ough work  done  among  our  children  and 
young  people  are  discouraged.  Nor  does 
it  lessen  the  discouragement  to  be  told  to 
go  back  and  be  content  with  one-half 
hour  on  Sunday !  There  is  simply  one  way 


162          RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

to  meet  the  problem.  We  must  have  op- 
portunity to  teach  the  children  on  a  week- 
day, and  we  must  have  them  taught  by 
persons  who  have  been  trained  to  the 
work,  and  this  not  to  supplant  but  rather 
to  supplement  the  Sunday-school. 

But  here  one  may  perhaps  say.  Take 
the  children  during  the  week  if  you  will, 
but  take  them  after  school  hours.  Does 
such  an  objector  know  children  after 
school  hours?  Still  some  of  us  will  take 
them — some  of  us  are  already  taking 
them — tired  little  bodies  though  they  are, 
and  going  home  to  study  their  evening 
lessons  later  on,  too.  But  we  dare  not 
neglect  them  while  we  are  waiting  for 
their  elders  to  provide  a  fair  and  proper 
time  for  this  important  part  of  their  work. 

Again,  another  objector  may  say  that, 
if  clergy  and  parish  staff,  commonly  hard 
worked  enough,  are  to  do  this  work,  what 
is  to  become  a  regular  parochial  routine  ? 
The  reply  is  that  parochial  duties  must 
always  be  taken  up  in  the  order  of  their 
importance,  and  the  older  parishioners 
must  be  educated  up  to  seeing  that  this 


VIEWS  AND  COMMENTS         163 

may  demand  a  sacrifice  on  their  part. 
*  *  *  *  *  It  can  be  done  and  it 
will  be  done  if  we  realize  that  the  place 
for  the  children  is  in  the  front  ranks.  We 
elders  must  look  over  their  heads. 

Other  objectors  doubtless  will  also 
raise  other  points — everything  can  be 
criticized — but  this  question  is  up  now, 
and  be  sure  it  is  with  us  to  stay  until  we 
solve  it.  Whether  or  not  we  get  Wednes- 
day afternoon  or  any  portion  of  it,  whether 
one  favors  or  objects  to  any  particular 
scheme,  the  fact  remains  that  the  children 
are  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  church, 
and  I  venture  to  say  that  as  the  church 
answers  this  appeal  which  is  now  begin- 
ning to  sound  in  her  ears,  so  she  deter- 
mines her  own  future.  That  future  is  to 
be  built  up  out  of  these  very  children,  by 
the  aid  of  the  spirit  of  God,  and  He  surely 
will  not  lavish  His  grace  upon  any  church 
or  any  religious  body  which  neglects 
them.  THORNTON  FLOYD  TURNER. 

New  York. 
(The  Churchman,  June  9,  1906.) 


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